NCAAM teams
WSU

52

11-2
Final
UCLA

55

12-0
RecapBox Score
1 2 T
WSU 28 24 52
UCLA 24 31 55
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
17y

Top-ranked Bruins rally, squelch Wash. St.'s upset bid

UCLA Bruins, Washington State Cougars

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As Darren Collison goes, so goes UCLA.

And the top-ranked Bruins were as bad as their point guard in
the first half against Washington State. He had zero points, three
turnovers, three fouls and his team trailed by 10.

Collison played like a man possessed in the final 20 minutes,
scoring 13 points and hitting a 3-pointer that put UCLA ahead for
good in a 55-52 victory Thursday night.

"I wasn't concerned with how bad I was doing, I just wanted to
win," he said. "I wanted to pick up the intensity offensively and
defensively."

Arron Afflalo added 13 points and Josh Shipp had 11 points
playing on a sprained right ankle to keep the Bruins (12-0) as one
of four undefeated Top 25 teams. Shipp injured himself at the end
of practice Tuesday.

"Our offense was really inept," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
"To be able to win a game shooting 33 percent doesn't happen very
often."

Washington State (11-2) dropped to 0-25 all-time against
top-ranked teams, including 0-17 against the Bruins.

Derrick Low led the Cougars with 14 points and Nikola Koprivica
added 12, but missed a tying 3-pointer as time expired that
Collison got a fingertip on. Kyle Weaver had 10 rebounds.

"I thought we had them," Low said. "I felt like I let the
team down."

The Bruins are 50-1 against the Cougars in Los Angeles.

"We're a little numb right now," first-year Cougars coach Tony
Bennett said. "Some turnovers were really costly at crunch time."

UCLA's fifth consecutive win over Washington State didn't come
easily against a team whose deliberate style frustrated the Bruins.

They survived despite shooting a season-worst 33 percent from
the field. UCLA dominated the boards, 40-28, including 10 by Luc
Richard Mbah a Moute.

Neither team led by more than two points during a 6-minute
stretch late in the second half until Collison hit his second
3-pointer for a 48-45 lead.

Afflalo turned the ball over, then fouled Weaver, causing UCLA
to lose possession with 4½ minutes left clinging to a one-point
lead. But the Bruins caught a break when the Cougars lost the ball
out of bounds.

Shipp's ensuing steal and layup, followed by a 3-pointer from
Michael Roll extended UCLA's lead to 53-47 -- its largest of the
game -- with 3:29 remaining.

Koprivica's 3-pointer got the Cougars to 53-50. The Bruins were
called for a held ball, giving the Cougars possession and Ivory
Clark dunked to make it 53-52.

Collison's layup rolled around the rim and out with 25 seconds
left.

After a timeout, the Cougars worked the ball around to Low,
whose 3-pointer fell short with 6 seconds left. Clark fouled
Afflalo going for the rebound, and Afflalo made both to keep UCLA
ahead 55-52 before Koprivica's long-range miss preserved the
Bruins' winning streak.

"Derrick got a look," said Bennett, who has retained his
father Dick's penchant for long possessions and smothering defense.
"If he could have pump-faked, the guy would have sailed by him.
Nikola had a good look, too, but it just didn't fall. We've been in
some heartbreaking losses here."

A fastbreak layup by Low pushed the Cougars' lead to 35-26 early
in the second half. But he soon picked up his third foul, and
Afflalo and Collison teamed up to score 14 consecutive points for
UCLA.

Mbah a Moute got the announced crowd of 11,102 into it with a
blocked shot and Afflalo hit two 3-pointers. Collison added eight
points, including a long-range basket that gave the Bruins their
first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 40-39.

"The crowd was rooting us back into this game," Howland said.
"If this game was in Pullman, we'd lose."

The Bruins were flustered into putting up quick shots, seven of
which were blocked in the first half. Collison thrives on getting
out on the break, but he sat down with his third foul late in the
half.

The Bruins were 8-of-29 from the field in the first half, when
they trailed 28-24. Their final possession indicated how things
went: Afflalo's shot was blocked and Russell Westbrook grabbed the
offensive rebound but missed.

UCLA improved to 19-10 in Pac-10 openers since 1978-79, while
the Cougars fell to 11-18.

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