UCLA holds off desperate Stanford rally to win 69-67

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Dramatic rallies down the stretch are getting to be commonplace when Stanford and UCLA play.

At Pauley Pavilion last month, the Bruins came from 14 down to win in double overtime.

On Thursday night, the Cardinal nearly reversed the tables at Maples Pavilion. They trailed by 22 points midway through the second half before staging a valiant rally. They cut the lead to one point in the closing seconds, but the Bruins escaped with a 69-67 win when Chasson Randle’s last-second three-point try missed.

“We dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t quite climb out of it,’’ Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said.

For most of the night, the Bruins dominated, and they wound up handing the Cardinal a damaging home loss, dropping them into a tie for third place in the Pac-12.

Many observers feel the conference will land only three berths in the NCAA Tournament, so Stanford (15-7, 6-4 Pac-12) may find itself on the bubble.

Although the two Bruins who had monster nights against the Cardinal in Westwood, freshman Kevon Looney and Anthony Parker, were well contained, UCLA (14-9, 6-4) received fine performances from its guards: Norman Powell with 20 points and Isaac Hamilton and Bryce Alford with 18 each.

Anthony Brown scored 19 points to lead Stanford, followed by Randle and Rosco Allen with 13 each and Stefan Nastic with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Stanford center Stefan Nastic (4) shoots over UCLA forward Tony Parker (23) during the second half of the Cardinal’s 69-67 loss. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar) Stanford center Stefan Nastic (4) shoots over UCLA forward Tony Parker (23) during the second half of the Cardinal’s 69-67 loss. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar) Photo: Tony Avelar / Associated Press Photo: Tony Avelar / Associated Press Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close UCLA holds off desperate Stanford rally to win 69-67 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

“Toward the end we were making the extra pass and the connecting play,’’ Brown said. “In the first half, none of our jumpers were in rhythm. A lot of them were extremely deep, off the first or second pass. In the second half we were finding the next guy, making the extra pass.’’

Stanford had chances in the closing minutes. Nastic missed in traffic down low, Randle an open three-pointer and Marcus Allen one of two foul shots with 1:13 left. Then Brown sneaked in for a layup to make it 67-64 with 22 seconds to go.

Powell missed a one-and one with 18 seconds left, but Randle turned the ball over. Powell sank a free throw with nine seconds left before Allen nailed a three to cut the lead to 68-67. With three seconds to go, Alford made just the second of two free throws.

After UCLA called a timeout to align its defense, Stanford got the ball to Randle, whose 20-footer missed.

An intentional foul call against Randle with about 10 minutes left helped get Stanford going. Randle had the ball, but his elbow caught Hamilton in the face. Moments later the UCLA lead reached 58-36, but the Cardinal outscored the Bruins 31-11 the rest of the way.

The call on Randle was a good one, Dawkins said. “No question, it caught our guys’ attention, and they started to really dig in from that point.’’

“I'd like to say our guys deserved it (the win), but they deserved it, too,’’ UCLA coach Steve Alford said. “You get down 20 at home and battle all the way back — that speaks (for) a lot of character of them as well.’’

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald