[0] UCLA FINDS WAY TRAILING BY 19, BRUINS STORM BACK FOR CRITICAL WIN UCLA 83, CAL 62.

Byline: Jon Wilner Staff Writer

BERKELEY - The directions to the NCAA Tournament said nothing about this. They said nothing about reserve Billy Knight sparking a rally and center Dan Gadzuric playing the game of his life and the fifth-place UCLA Bruins playing like the first-place teams from seasons past.

And they absolutely, positively said nothing about rallying from a 19-point first-half deficit to devastate Cal 83-62 Thursday night.

But the Bruins wear unpredictability like a badge of honor. They can be hypnotically good and shockingly bad. Sometimes, they can be both in the same game, which explains their performance Thursday night.

Trailing 33-14, the Bruins closed the first half with a 16-2 surge, then took command midway through the second half to win their third consecutive game after six losses in their previous seven.

Jason Kapono scored 20 points and buried several critical 3-pointers. But Gadzuric was the hero, recovering from a wicked elbow from Cal center Nick Vander Laan to score a career-high 22 points and grab 16 rebounds. He played the game for which UCLA has waited almost two seasons - and his timing couldn't have been better.

This was the most important victory of the season for UCLA (16-11, 7-8) - perhaps the most important regular-season win in 20 years.

Forget Saturday's game at No. 1 Stanford; fortunately for the Bruins, it's now meaningless. All they must do is defeat the Washington schools next week in Pauley Pavilion and they'll have the 18 wins that should secure an at-large berth.

``We have a chance to control our own destiny . . . by winning the games we should win,'' Bruins coach Steve Lavin said.

The Bruins departed for Berkeley on Wednesday after another round of solid practices. There's no doubt the intensity and efficiency of their workouts have improved since the disastrous trip to the desert, where they lost to Arizona and Arizona State by a combined 44 points.

``We're a lot more focused knowing our backs are to the wall,'' forward Rico Hines said Tuesday. ``Everybody's keyed-in.''

As always, the emphasis was on limiting turnovers and improving shot selection. Both were poor in a 73-70 loss to Cal in Pauley Pavilion last month - as was UCLA's last-minute execution.

``We had the same problems we've had all year: late turnovers, foul trouble, poor foul shooting, lack of execution down the stretch,'' forward Sean Farnham said. ``But last weekend (against the Oregon schools), we eliminated a lot of those things.''

They forgot them Thursday night, at least in the opening 14 minutes. The Bruins took a brief lead, then watched Cal respond with a 27-6 surge that gave the Bears a 31-12 lead midway through the half.

Every flaw, every weakness the Bruins have shown this season was on display, crammed into a brutal 10-minute stretch. They took bad shots, threw ridiculous passes, failed to execute their zone offense and played half-hearted defense.

Then, just like that, it was over. The Bruins regained their composure and their patience, then counterpunched.

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Photo: (color) Cal's Nick Vander Laan looks for breathing room while being covered by UCLA's Ryan Bailey, left, Sean Farnham and Jerome Moiso.

Liz Hafalia/Associated Press