The Trojans were the better team for 35 minutes.
They were the aggressors, attacking the Bruins at will and taking UCLA’s boisterous home crowd out of the equation.
But as has happened many times in the team’s crosstown rivalry, including the two teams’ first matchup this season, the No. 2 Bruins were the better team in the last five minutes. That was all that mattered in UCLA’s 70-65 victory over No. 19 USC.
“The key is to lead at the end,” guard Arron Afflalo said. “We are a winning team, and we expect to win. We never think we are out of any game.”
In front of an exuberant crowd of 12,810, the Bruins didn’t give the fans much to cheer about as they trailed the first 34 minutes of the game.
But after trailing by as many as seven in the second half, the Bruins (21-2, 10-2 Pac-10) took the lead on two Afflalo free throws with 4:26 to play. They never looked back.
Point guard Darren Collison had eight points in the second half, and the Bruins finished off the game by shooting 18 of 20 from the free-throw line.
“The key is playing for 40 minutes,” Collison said. “We knew from the beginning it was going to be a battle because it’s a rivalry game, but we just had to finish at the end.”
Unlike many of the games in the two teams’ long rivalry, Wednesday’s game had more significance than simply crosstown bragging rights.
No. 19 USC (18-7, 8-4) had its highest ranking since the 2002 season and was playing for a chance to tie the Bruins for first place in the Pac-10 standings.
The UCLA students were jumping up and down from the opening tip, and the entire crowd was on its feet for the final three minutes of the game.
“I don’t know if it can get any better than this,” coach Ben Howland said of the rivalry. “Our students were ready, and this had the atmosphere of an NCAA Tournament game.”
For a while, however, it looked like the Bruin fans would be sent home dejected.
USC’s talented guards Lodrick Stewart and Nick Young were on fire in the first half, the Trojans as a team were shooting well over 50 percent from the field, and the Bruins were lucky to be down by just one point at halftime.
“I don’t know if they missed a shot in those first 10 minutes,” Howland said. “They were coming off those screens, and we didn’t do a good job of defending their guards.”
In that first half, while giving up many easy USC baskets, UCLA struggled against USC’s 2-3 zone. The Bruins were a combined 1 for 8 from behind the three-point line.
Afflalo, the Bruins’ leading scorer of the season, had only three points at the break. The Bruins committed an uncharacteristic nine first-half turnovers.
“I was a little embarrassed to make all those turnovers, to be honest with you,” Afflalo said. “We’re better than that, and we should be more patient as a team.”
In the second half, the Bruins calmed down and started attacking the basket.
As a result, the Bruins had 20 second-half free-throw attempts to the Trojans’ five, and the Bruins only had three turnovers.
With those free-throw attempts came Trojan fouls, and none was bigger than Taj Gibson’s fourth personal foul with 6:15 remaining. It sent Gibson to the bench and changed the complexion of the game.
“He is a really tough matchup,” sophomore Alfred Aboya said of Gibson. “I just tried to make him play defense, and it really helped when he picked up some fouls.”
Following the Gibson foul, the Bruins started making shots, and Josh Shipp, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored nine points. The Bruins shot 44 percent from the field in the second half.
Shipp’s biggest basket, in fact, was a follow-up lay-in with four minutes left that turned a two-point deficit into a three-point Bruin lead. Stewart was also called for a technical foul on the play.
“That play was critical for us,” Howland said. “Josh is a determined rebounder, and I don’t know about the technical foul, but it was obviously an important part of the game.”
Following the Shipp basket, the Bruins never trailed. Afflalo, who finished the game with 16 points, and Collison, who finished with a career-high 17 points, sealed the game from the foul line.
The key for the Bruins now is to turn around after playing a physical game on Wednesday. They take a six-hour plane ride today to the East Coast to take on West Virginia on Saturday.
But if they can bounce back like they did in the second half against USC, there should be no worry for Bruin fans in Morgantown.
STEWART PLAYS: Lodrick Stewart, USC’s lone starting senior, decided to play in Wednesday’s game despite learning about the death of his great-grandfather earlier this week. Stewart finished with 13 points.