Sat Mar 15 00:00:43 2008

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Love powers Bruins into Pac-10 finals

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Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Kevin Love scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as No. 3 UCLA edged Southern California, 57-54, in semifinal action in the Pac-10 Tournament.

The top-seeded Bruins will play either No. 11 Stanford or 21st-ranked Washington State in the championship game Saturday.

Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook added 13 points apiece for UCLA (30-3), which has won nine straight games, but may have lost the services of power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who sustained an ankle injury late in the first half and did not return.

O.J. Mayo ended with 15 points and six boards for Southern California (21-11), which had won six of its previous seven games. Davon Jefferson chipped in 12 points and five boards in defeat.

USC held a six-point edge at intermission, but it was nearly all Bruins in the second half. They opened on a 12-0 run, making it 40-34, and following a Daniel Hackett layup at the other end, Love fired back with a shot from beyond the arc to keep UCLA in the driver's seat.

Both sides then endured a long cold spell, but USC was able to pull within two, 54-52, on a Mayo layup with 1:54 to play. A Collison free throw put the Bruins back up by three, and the teams traded shots from the stripe until the final seconds.

USC had one last chance, down 57-54, but Mayo and Hackett both missed three- point attempts that would have tied the game. Mayo's shot kicked off the back of the rim, and after Hackett grabbed the rebound, his last-ditch attempt hit the front of the rim at the buzzer.

The game was tight from the opening minutes, but the Trojans eventually forged ahead, 17-11, near the midpoint of the first half.

The Bruins battled back, as Josh Shipp connected on consecutive three-point shots to forge a 17-all tie. Jefferson bucketed a three at the other end, though, to put USC back in control.

It was 23-20 with 4:38 left, but the Trojans closed on an 11-8 push to make it 34-28 at the break.

Game Notes

Love recorded his 13th double-double in the last 17 games...The archrivals had split the regular season series, with each winning on the other's floor... UCLA leads the all-time series, 126-100...The two teams had never met in the Pac-10 Tournament and the last time they faced each other more than twice in a season was in 1967 when UCLA won all four meetings...Love has scored in double figures in all 33 games this season.