Final: UCLA 67, Washington State 59
February 7th, 2008, 10:55 pm · Post a Comment · posted by DAVID BEAN, OCREGISTER.COM
By ROBERT KUWADA
The Orange County Register
PULLMAN, Wash. — So there were a few mishaps with that charter flight. Perhaps next time, if there is a next time, it might be a good idea if the UCLA basketball does not to hire a turbo prop job that requires a stop to take on fuel on its way into the Palouse.
On Thursday night, though, their prolonged trip into town mattered little to the Bruins, who took down Washington State, 67-59, without Luc Richard Mbah a Moute but with Darren Collison and Kevin Love sparking second-half spurts to get them clear of the Cougars.
Collison, scoreless in the first half, finished with 18 points. Love fell just short of a seventh consecutive double-double, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds. But the freshman pushed the Bruins ahead when they started forcing the ball into the low post with nine minutes to go, up by one.
Love had scored 27 points in the Bruins’ victory over Washington State at Pauley Pavilion, dominating a match up with the Cougars’ Aron Baynes. But after hitting a short jump shot from the baseline and scoring in the lane in the Bruins’ first four possessions Thursday, Love had difficulty getting the ball.
Washington State doubled and Love was able to get just three more shots the rest of the half — two of them coming off of offensive rebounds on misses by Collison and Alfred Aboya.
That changed through that second-half stretch when Love got to the free-throw line on back-to-back possessions and three out of five, adding an assist with a nice pass into the low post to Josh Shipp for a layup.
After Love finished off an offensive rebound in a flurry when Aboya missed a tip and Love missed a tip before scoring, they had pushed that lead to nine points.
“To tell you the truth, I was getting a little frustrated because I thought I was open a couple of times,” Love said. “But Darren was playing well and we just hit free throws down the stretch and they decided to get me the ball just because they found an opening. I ran the floor, ran down there and just tried to get fouled.”
The Cougars, despite hitting 52.3 percent of their shots, couldn’t keep up. The turned over the ball three times while the Bruins were squirting away.
“It’s getting some stops in conjunction with making some good plays offensively and getting the ball inside,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “Josh (Shipp) made some big shots. There were big plays down that stretch run there.”
The victory allowed the Bruins (21-2, 9-1) to maintain a one game lead in the Pac-10 over Stanford, which defeated Oregon, and stuck the Cougars (17-5, 5-5) with a fifth conference loss.
“It’s just a great win. I couldn’t be more pleased with our guys,” Howland said. “Especially with all the adversity — not having (Michael) Roll, not having Luc, being short-handed and playing then (Collison and Russell Westbrook) 39 minutes, which I do not like to do. It’s hard pulling those guys out right now as good as they’re playing.”
Had Mbah a Moute made the trip — he is out because of a sprained left ankle — Collison and Westbrook might still have played every minute in the second half. Neither played all that well in the first 20 minutes — Collison missed all four of his shots and Westbrook turned over the ball five times. But they both made plays in the second half, primarily Collison, who was suffering from a cold or flu in the morning.
The point guard made his first shot on a layup with 16:49 remaining and continued to get to the basket, driving for a score, pulling up in the lane for a short jump shot on another.
“’I was just a little more aggressive in the second half than the first half,” Collison said. “They were really paying attention against me — hedging, doubling on the ball screen at times, hedging real hard. I just had to wait for my time.”
