Ducks Can't Stop Powell as UCLA Beats Oregon 72-63

The first half of this game was a hard fought battle with ten lead changes, but, when all was said and done, it was the "Norman Powell Show" this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.

Not only did Powell lead the Bruins with 23 points in the game, he also made the biggest plays of the game. With about a minute to go in the first half, Powell dribbled between his legs and two defenders at the top of the key straight to the hoop for an uncontested dunk. That gave the Bruins a 41-38 point lead.

The Ducks' Joseph Young would add two free throws to make the score 41-40 at the break.

But, it was the Bruins who controlled the second half.

Powell hit a three-pointer with 16:16 to go breaking the only tie of the second half, making the score 49-46 and giving the Bruins the lead for good.

Here we have all of Powell's highlights from the game.

Unlike last weekend at both Stanford and UC Berkeley, the Bruins didn't run out of gas at the end of the game. In fact, the Bruins' lead got wider as the game wore on.

Some of the credit for that has to go to the UCLA bench which outscored the Ducks' bench 9-3. Bench shooting was off the charts at 80% as the Bruins got 6 points from Thomas Welsh and 3 points from Gyorgy "G.G." Goloman. Considering that the Bruins won by nine, one might even argue that the bench scoring won the game for the Bruins.

But, again, it was the "Norman Powell Show" today as the Bruins' senior guard made one big play after another. It was probably the Parker to Powell dunk with 3:51 left to play that really finished off the Ducks.

Of course, Kevon Looney's contributions can't be overlooked either. Looney put up 18 points with 11 rebounds for a double-double and, because it's Looney, you know it was "animal-style."

Jalil Abdul-Bassit led the all scorers with 24 points in a losing effort.

Next up, the Bruins head off to the desert to face Arizona State on Wednesday night and U of A on Saturday night.

Go Bruins!