For no good reason other than that they crave wins, the third-ranked UCLA Bruins beat USC, 57-54, Friday night at Staples Center in the semifinals of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.
Top-seeded UCLA (30-3) will play No. 2 seed Stanford in the 3 p.m. championship game today. The Cardinal, who beat Washington State 75-68 in the other semifinal, lost to UCLA twice this year -- 76-67 at Maples Pavilion and 77-67 in overtime at Pauley Pavilion. The Trojans (21-11) will wait for their near-certain NCAA bid to come Sunday.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland has led the Bruins to three consecutive 30-win seasons and that has happened for only two other schools -- Kentucky under Adolph Rupp and again under a combined tenure of Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith; and Memphis the last three seasons under John Calipari.
But this game wasn't about historic statistics. It was about the emotions of postseason basketball, of two neighborhood rivals playing for the third time in a season and where nobody wanted to leave the court the loser.
With the discouraging view of teary-eyed forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute clutching his left ankle and being carried by his shoulders off the court, stuck with a halftime rearview of USC, which was outfoxing the Bruins with a triangle-and-two defense, UCLA seemed down and out.
But Bruins freshman Kevin Love, who scored 11 points in a row for UCLA during a 15-2 run to start the second half, said: "We didn't want to be in the summer, after our season with them talking trash to us," Love said. "We couldn't lose this game."
And when the Trojans were down by seven points with 2:58 left, here's what Trojans freshman O.J. Mayo did:
Make a quick three-point basket, then follow up with a twisting layup, giving USC the oomph to get to within a point in the last 32 seconds. "He's a great, great player," Howland said of Mayo. "He made big plays."
A UCLA loss felt likely when, with 6:22 left in the first half, Mbah a Moute, UCLA's second-best rebounder and second-best defender, had a layup tipped away by Taj Gibson. As Mbah a Moute landed on Davon Jefferson's foot, his left ankle crumpled beneath him. The junior moaned as he came to the bench.
On Feb. 2, Mbah a Moute had sprained the same ankle against Arizona. He missed games against Washington State and Washington and only last weekend said he felt spring back in his legs.
"This time the pain was so bad I thought I broke it," Mbah a Moute said.
