Bruins pull it off after give and take

Not enough to draw blood or even leave a mark. Just enough to heat things up.

It was still early in Sunday night's game between USC and UCLA when Bruins center Drew Gordon stuck an elbow out at Trojans guard Daniel Hackett, who was doing a fair amount of talking.

Mark the time at 10 minutes 37 seconds to play in the first half. The unofficial start of the college basketball season in Los Angeles.

From that point on, the cross-town rivalry settled into a scuffle as nasty and loud as anything Tobacco Road might offer, with 10th-ranked UCLA scrambling back in the final minutes for a 64-60 victory at the Galen Center.

"This rivalry never gets old," UCLA guard Darren Collison said. "It'll always be here."

The Bruins (13-2, 3-0 in Pacific 10 Conference) won with trademark defense, finding a way to slow down USC and its star freshman, DeMar DeRozan. Forward Nikola Dragovic, a surprise starter, made several key shots down the stretch.

The Trojans (10-5, 1-2) fell short despite ferocious defense and dominant play inside. DeRozan scored a team-high 15 points before appearing to run out of gas at the end.

But maybe the biggest statistic of the game was the announced attendance of 10,258. It was the first time either team had played in front of a supercharged crowd in its own city, the first chance for Los Angeles fans to stand up and scream.

"We shot better than them, we rebounded better and we were even in turnovers," Hackett said. "It came down to a couple plays where they executed and we didn't."

Leading up to this game, there had been a good deal of talk about the state of the rivalry, at least on the basketball court. With Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo gone to the NBA, could it generate as much buzz as last season?

Or try this: With both teams coming off consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, should it be mentioned in the same breath as, say, North Carolina and Duke?

"They were trying to say that in the last couple of years but we don't need to compare ourselves to North Carolina and Duke," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said beforehand. "We're USC and UCLA. It already is a great rivalry."

At the very least, Sunday's game drew not only a big crowd but also clusters of scalpers loitering outside.

"You want $80?" one potential buyer said, incredulously.

"But they're courtside," the seller shot back.