Sat Mar 29 21:21:17 2008

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Love leads Bruins to third straight Final Four

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Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Kevin Love scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, as UCLA gained its third straight Final Four berth with a 76-57 rout of Xavier in the West Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.

Darren Collison also had 19 points for the top-seeded Bruins (35-3), who advanced to face either Memphis or Texas next Saturday in San Antonio. The Tigers and Longhorns play Sunday in the South Regional final. Russell Westbrook tallied 17 points and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute totaled 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Bruins.

It's the third straight year Ben Howland has coached the Bruins into the Final Four. The last time UCLA was in the Final Four three straight years came from 1967-76, an unprecedented 10-year run during a time of domination for legendary head coach John Wooden and the Bruins with the likes of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton. Wooden coached the Bruins to eight national championships during that stretch, while Gene Bartow was at the helm of the 1976 Final Four squad.

The Bruins, who shot 53.8 percent from the field, are trying to win the title for the first time since 1995 when they beat Arkansas in the championship game. Last year, UCLA lost to Florida in the national semifinals, and in 2006 the Bruins were beaten by the Gators in the title game.

Derrick Brown had 13 points and Josh Duncan 11 for the third-seeded Musketeers (30-7), who have yet to reach the Final Four in their history. C.J. Anderson added 10 points for Xavier, which was in the Elite Eight also in 2004, but lost to Duke.

Already ahead by nine points at the half, the Bruins distanced themselves from Xavier with a 14-0 run. Love's jam started the burst, and he also saved the ball inbounds under the basket, leading to a breakaway layup from Collison for a 10-point difference.

The tenacity of Love was instrumental all game. The 6-foot-10 freshman center rebounded a missed free throw from Westbrook, who failed to complete a three- point play. It didn't matter, as Love corralled the ball and dished it to Collison, who nailed a long shot from beyond the arc for a 43-28 spread.

Love then took over offensively, scoring on a layup and drilling a three from the left wing for a 48-28 difference with nearly 15 minutes remaining.

Stanley Burrell's free throw with 14:36 left finally broke the UCLA string, but Xavier failed to get the deficit under double digits, despite a string of seven straight points. Duncan's two foul shots ended the flurry for a 51-37 margin.

Anderson's layup cut Xavier's deficit to 55-43 at the midway point of the half, but the Bruins embarked on a 12-2 run to blow it open for good. Westbrook and Love both made three-pointers during the stretch, which ended on a Westbrook layup with under six minutes left for a 67-45 lead.

Westbrook had a steal and breakaway jam for the contest's first points and UCLA never trailed the entire game. Collison's three-pointer expanded the lead to 12-6 before Jason Love's layup brought Xavier within 16-15 at the midway point of the half.

However, Collison and Kevin Love responded with layups and the Bruins expanded the difference to 24-17 following two more Kevin Love buckets. Collison's jumper in the final seconds of the half gave UCLA a 33-24 cushion at the intermission.

Game Notes

The Musketeers were 2-of-9 from three-point range in the first half and just 4-of-19 for the game...This is the 17th Final Four appearance for UCLA...Xavier shot 36.2 percent from the floor...Josh Shipp had five points on 1-of-7 shooting for the Bruins...UCLA held a 37-28 rebounding advantage.