PULLMAN, Wash. “”mdash; With 45 seconds left, Darren Collison sunk two free throws to give the Bruins an eight-point lead.
Four seconds later, Washington State’s Kyle Weaver hit a 3 to trim the lead to five. For a moment, it seemed No. 5 UCLA (21-2, 9-1 Pac-10) and No. 17 Washington State (17-5, 5-5 Pac-10) were going to relive the ending of their last meeting in Westwood, when the visiting Cougars almost stole a win.
But this time, Collison sunk two more free throws, center Aron Baynes missed both of his, Washington State missed the rest of its desperation 3s, and UCLA sealed the 67-59 win.
“When they hit that 3 toward the end, I was like, “˜Oh no, here we go again,'” center Kevin Love said. “We just continued to hit our free throws. Darren stepped up and hit big ones at the end and came out with a huge win because this is on their home court.”
Besides his clutch free throws, Collison showed his mettle in a tough atmosphere. He scored 18 points in the second half after turning in a scoreless first.
“I had no idea (how I got better looks),” Collison said. “That’s one of the toughest defenses I’ve played all year round, so I give them credit for that. It’s something you’ve just got to battle through and find your ways.”
The contest was physical and close, with the teams staying within a few points of each other most of the way. It wasn’t until late in the second half, with both Baynes and Robbie Cowgill in serious foul trouble, that UCLA went on an 8-0 run that broke the game open.
“We got some stops,” Collison said. “They might have missed some easy shots, but at the same time we got a stop. A stop is a stop. … We slowed the ball down and we got a good tempo out of it.”
The loss puts Washington State in a serious skid ““ the Cougars have now lost four out of five.
The Cougars came out with a lot of intensity for the tip, determined not to fall again on their home court.
“We knew it was going to be hostile,” coach Ben Howland said. “To beat them up here ““ knowing their back is against the wall, having lost two in a row already at home last weekend ““ was huge.”
Neither team was able to get any separation in what was a sloppy first half.
Going into the locker room, the Bruins had a total of 10 first-half turnovers, five of them by Westbrook. The Cougars had committed six.
But in the second half, UCLA was able to calm down and get into more of an offensive rhythm.
UCLA’s defense, while clearly missing forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, was able to turn in an impressive performance. The Bruins held guard Derrick Low to just a seven points and one assist effort. Low scored 24 in the teams’ last meeting.
When the game was on the line late, it was a tough Bruin effort that broke the backs of the Cougars. Right after Cowgill fouled out, in the middle of UCLA’s 8-0 run, the Bruins grabbed four offensive rebounds in one possession before Love was finally able to score to give UCLA a 10-point lead.
“That was just an effort play,” Love said. “It’s one of those plays that sets you over the top. There were four offensive rebounds on that play, and we finally got the bucket. That was something where we kind of look at their body posture afterward, and we kind of felt like we had the game won.”