It happened so fast.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute rebounded a Kevin Love miss, scored and was fouled. Mbah a Moute missed the free throw, but Russell Westbrook put in the rebound. Westbrook made two free throws after the first one bounced so high it seemed headed for the rafters. Darren Collison made two more foul shots with 2.5 seconds left in regulation.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, March 08, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
College basketball: An Inside the Times item appearing in some editions on Friday's front page said a play occurred in the first quarter of the UCLA-Stanford game. Basketball games have two halves; the action occurred in the first half.
And with that came overtime. And with overtime came a thunderous 77-67 win for UCLA over Stanford at Pauley Pavilion, where the fans never sat for the final seven minutes Thursday. It took a 14-point second-half comeback and recovery from a five-point deficit in the final 1:09 of regulation to lead UCLA to its third straight Pacific 10 Conference regular-season title.
It was a hard-earned win and Collison was honest about it. The foul call on Lawrence Hill at the end of regulation? "I was fortunate to get a foul on that call," Collison said. "I heard it was a makeup."
Three of Collison's teammates -- Love, Mbah a Moute and Westbrook -- were telling Collison "shhh." But Hill didn't complain. "He drew contact when he went to the basket," Hill said. "It was still on him to make the free throws."
The third-ranked Bruins (27-3, 15-2) may not yet understand how it was they withstood seventh-ranked Stanford (24-5, 13-4) and its 7-foot twins, Brook and Robin Lopez, and Stanford's making nine of its first 12 shots and holding a 32-18 lead early in the second half.
A daring pass from Collison to Mbah a Moute with 2:48 left in overtime that ended in a Mbah a Moute dunk gave UCLA only its second lead of the game, 65-63, and its first since 2-0.
An uncontested Collison layup at the final buzzer on a outlet pass from Love, even with Bruins Coach Ben Howland asking for the scoring to stop, was the final triumphant energy release for UCLA.
Collison finished with a game-high 24 points, Westbrook had 19, Love had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Mbah a Moute 10 points and 11 rebounds.
"It was God answering my prayers," Howland said of watching Westbrook's high-bouncing free throw drop in. "I am grateful our team has now won three championships in a row in the Pac-10. This is the best the conference has been in over 25 years."
The game had seemed lost earlier. There was a moment after Josh Shipp had made his first three-point shot of the night and Love had just blocked Landry Fields' shot and Collison located Shipp beyond the three-point line.
