TEMPE, Ariz. “”mdash; With Arizona State leading 49-39 and just less than 11 minutes left in the game, UCLA finally decided to show up.
Sophomore point guard Darren Collison sparked an 18-2 UCLA run in a span of just less than six minutes, and the No. 5 Bruins (22-3, 11-2 Pac-10) hit their free throws at the end of the game to hold on to a 67-61 victory over the Sun Devils (6-19, 0-14).
“We finally showed aggression offensively,” coach Ben Howland said of the run. “Our guys have won a lot of close games over the last couple of years, and that showed today.”
Arizona State played UCLA even for the first half and came out with fire in the second half. They limited the Bruins to just five points, all scored by sophomore guard/forward Michael Roll, in the first nine minutes of the second half as the Bruins struggled against the aggressive ASU zone.
“We have to get rid of those lapses,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said. “It’s getting late in the season now.”
But the Bruins’ experience and depth eventually won out. Collison scored 11 consecutive second-half points for the Bruins in the midst of their big run. Meanwhile, Afflalo and sophomore forward Josh Shipp made all 10 of their free throws in the last minute to quash any hopes of a desperate Sun Devil rally.
Afflalo finished the game with 24 points on 7-13 shooting. It was his eighth consecutive game with at least 16 points.
“It was good to watch our entire team support each other and get back into the game and give us a chance,” Afflalo said.
To Arizona State’s credit, the Sun Devils didn’t back down even when they fell behind. Arizona State freshman guard Christian Polk banked in a three and scored on a drive and senior forward Serge Angounou hit a rare 3-pointer to keep the Sun Devils within striking distance with under a minute left to play. But the Bruins continued to hit their free-throws and narrowly avoided becoming the first Pac-10 team to fall to Arizona State.
“ASU’s a good team,” Collison said. “This is a very good conference. For them to get their first win on us, yeah it would hurt, but it wouldn’t have been embarrassing because of the way they played.”
“Herb’s done a great job,” Howland said. “For a team that hasn’t won a lot, they have zero quit in them. They’ve been fighting so hard ““ I’ve seen all the films ““ and I really respect that.”
For the Sun Devils, it was yet another close opportunity gone by the wayside. The Sun Devils have now played five consecutive close games in the tough Pac-10 conference.
“Obviously, anytime when you have a 10-point lead in the second half at home and you don’t win, you are disappointed, but I was very pleased with our effort tonight,” Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said.
The status of both Collison and junior center Lorenzo Mata was questionable heading into the game, but both players started and had big impacts.
Mata scored UCLA’s first three baskets and finished the game shooting 5-6, with 10 points in 21 minutes. Through the first 15 minutes of the first half, Mata and junior guard Arron Afflalo were the only Bruins to score. The rest of team struggled to produce anything against Arizona State’s active zone defense, which did a good job of preventing UCLA penetration after the first flurry of baskets from Mata.
It took a while for Collison to make his impact, but once he did, there was no stopping him. Collison scored all seven of his first-half points in the final five minutes of the half, including a layup as time expired that put the Bruins up 34-31.
In the second half, Collison once again came out quiet, but he led the Bruin charge as the minutes wound down. Collison had 11 points, and he knocked down three 3-pointers as UCLA surged ahead of ASU. The Bruins did not trail the Sun Devils again after Collison’s three-point torrent.
Even though his points came in bunches, the 18 total points ended up being a career-high for Collison. It was his first game back from injury.
DRIBBLERS: The 8,071 fans in attendance were just Arizona State’s fourth-biggest home crowd of the year despite facing there highest ranked opponent. There were many empty seats throughout the upper section of the arena.
At halftime, an acrobat pedaled on a unicycle while balancing bowls on her head. She then balanced a series of bowls on her knee, kicked the bowls up, and they landed perfectly inside one another on top of her head. She proceeded to do the same thing with more and more bowls until she was balancing eight bowls on her head. She received a standing ovation for her effort.