LOS ANGELES -- The game was basically over, the Cal men's basketball team had essentially won, but Jerome Randle was still looking for his teammates.

The veteran point guard saw daylight with less than two minutes left on the clock, then saw Patrick Christopher streaking towards the basket for an alley-oop.

"It was stars in my eyes," Randle said. "I knew it was going to happen because anytime I drive, he's going for the back door. So I just threw it up. I had the layup, but it looked better to see him smash the ball in."

Christopher's powerful dunk was the exclamation point on the Bears' 72-58 victory over UCLA on Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. But Randle wrote the sentence and placed the commas in a win that helped Cal avoid an ugly 1-3 road trip.

Although Randle had never won a regular-season game here, he didn't play like it. He initiated the offense with poise, attacked the Bruins' zone with precision and played as much like a true point guard as perhaps he ever has.

"I thought Jerome did a marvelous job of running the team," coach Mike Montgomery said. "He really was in charge, patient. He found the open guy, hit shots when he had an opportunity, never really panicked."

Fittingly, Randle finished with 14 points, the numerical difference in the game. The senior drained four three-pointers-he broke the school record for shots made from beyond the arc on Thursday night against USC-showing off his seemingly unlimited range.

Fourteen points from one of the best scorers in the conference shouldn't impress you, though. In fact, Randle had one of his least productive offensive games of the season against UCLA.

What he displayed, and what helped his team stay afloat in the Pac-10 race, was command against a defensive scheme that has caused problems for the Bears all year, composure when the Bruins cut their deficit to 48-45 midway through the second half.

Randle played all 40 minutes of the game, a sign of his durability but also an example of how vital he is to Cal's success. No knock on backup guard Brandon Smith, but the ball belongs inRandle's hands when the going gets tough.

What he does with it is up to him, and he saw a need for distributing on Saturday.

"I didn't worry about scoring," Randle said. "I just wanted to get my teammates involved. I'm really happy with how I led the team."

Not surprisingly, so were his teammates. Junior center Markhuri Sanders-Frison, for one, had one of his best overall outings of the season thanks to Randle's advice.

"He told me I need to be aggressive and be smart at the same time," Sanders-Frison said. "He reminds me at points of the game that they need me right now."

Randle might be better known for his scoring ability, but he likes to remind Montgomery that he led the conference in assists per game last season.

He had six dimes against UCLA, and although the last one was mostly a means to entertainment, it was also a nice dose of reality.

As Ayinde Ubaka's understudy three seasons ago, Randle was a haphazard handler whose speed approached recklessness.

Now, in his senior year, Randle -- all 5-foot-8 of him -- is a more complete point guard than he's given credit for.

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL, JEROME RANDLE