When Ben Howland stared down his bench last year for a point
guard, there weren’t any natural options that popped out.
That isn’t likely to be a problem this year. Incoming
freshman Darren Collison, who is expected to back up sophomore
Jordan Farmar at the point position, shined at the Nike Los Angeles
ProCity College League. On Sunday, Collison paced Sinclair’s
Bruins with 26 points on 12 of 15 shooting in a 73-72 win over
Salvatori Spirit. Starting alongside Farmar in the game, Collison
was the one to quickly take charge, scoring his team’s first
eight points. Playing off the ball, he routinely was able to knife
into the lane and create enough space for acrobatic layups or
dazzling assists to post players. “Our backcourt is going to
be real effective,” said Collison, who also had five assists
and just one turnover in 26 minutes. “Jordan’s a good
ball handler, and I got speed. We’re going to be dominant on
the court.” How much court time the two will actually share
remains to be seen. The Bruins return their entire starting
backcourt from a year ago, as well as Cedric Bozeman, who missed
last season due to a torn ACL. Bozeman, a fifth-year senior, was
expected to compete for the starting point position with Farmar
before his injury a year ago and still figures to play an important
role in multiple backcourt positions this year. On Sunday, Collison
made his case for prominently fitting into a seemingly deep
rotation. “I was playing 37 minutes a game last year,”
said Farmar, who finished Sunday’s game with eight points,
four assists and three turnovers. “Now with Darren coming in,
when I do go out, there will be someone who doesn’t miss a
beat.” The Sinclair’s Bruins roster, which includes all
of UCLA’s incoming freshmen class, features some of the
options available to Howland in 2005-2006. For most of the first
half, Collison and Farmar played together. In the third quarter,
Collison ran the point while Farmar was on the bench. Collison then
sat out much of the fourth quarter, but it was when he returned
with just under 2.5 minutes remaining that the game’s outcome
was decided. On consecutive possessions, Collison assisted Farmar
to trim a six-point deficit to two. The mini-run enabled sophomore
Josh Shipp to score the game-winning basket with 12 seconds
remaining. “They seem to play really well together,”
Shipp said. “Just look at what they did today.”
BRUISED, NOT BEATEN: Lorenzo Mata, playing for Salvatori’s
Squad, bruised his right knee going up for a block in
Saturday’s contest against Hank’s Lil’ Hoopsters.
However, the injury did not seem to affect his statistics the next
day, as he recorded a double-double in his team’s contest
against Rico’s Showtime. The sophomore was nevertheless
walking with a noticeable limp afterward and will have the knee
examined by doctors today.
DRIBBLERS: Arron Afflalo tripped over a defender’s leg on
the way to the basket Saturday in a game at West Los Angeles
College and appeared to come up gingerly. Asked to be removed from
the game for a brief stint, Afflalo later returned and showed no
ill effects from the incident.