UCLA rides the power of Love

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 29, 2008

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Kevin Love had 18 points and 12 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and No.4 UCLA defeated Arizona State 70-49 Thursday night, the Bruins' eighth straight win over the Sun Devils.

Darren Collison and Josh Shipp each added 17 points for the Bruins (25-3, 13-2 Pac-10), who have won nine of 10 and maintained their one-game lead over No.8 Stanford in the conference race.

It was UCLA's eighth straight win over the Sun Devils. The Bruins drubbed Arizona State by a combined 54 points in the two-game season series.

Early on, the Bruins were baffled by Arizona State's zone defense. Most of their offense came from Collison, who was 4-for-5 in the first half and made all four of his shots from beyond the arc.

The Bruins were 10-for-20 on 3s. Shipp had missed his last 20 3- pointers coming in, but he went 4-for-8.

USC 70, Arizona 58

TUCSON, Ariz. -- O.J. Mayo scored 20 points, and the Trojans handed the Wildcats their fifth home loss of the season.

In a matchup of two of the game's best freshmen, Mayo got the better of Arizona's Jerryd Bayless, who matched his season low of eight points, 13 below his season average.

Davon Jefferson had 15 points and 14 rebounds and 14 rebounds for the Trojans (18-9, 9-6). USC led by as many as 16 in the first half. Taj Gibson added 14 points and Dwight Lewis 11.

The loss was a setback in the Wildcats' (17-11, 7-8) bid for their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, the longest active streak in major college basketball.

TOP 25

David Padgett scored a season-high 26 points, and Earl Clark added 14 points and nine rebounds as No.13 Louisville (23-6, 13-3 Big East) beat No.17 Notre Dame 90-85. Luke Harangody led the Irish (21-6, 11-4) with a career-high 40 points. ... Julian Betko scored a career-high 17 points, all in the first half, and No.14 Butler (26- 3, 15-2 Horizon League) held off Wright State (20-8, 13-5) 66-61 to clinch the No.1 seed in next week's conference tournament. ... Brian Butch hit a career-high four 3-pointers as No.10 Wisconsin topped No.19 Michigan State 57-42. It was the fifth straight victory for Wisconsin (24-4, 14-2 Big Ten). Michigan State (22-6, 10-5) has lost three of its past five, including three straight road games.

LOCAL

Boise State 74, San Jose St. 68

SAN JOSE -- Tyler Tiedeman led five Broncos in double figures with 16 points, and the visitors scored their 12th straight win over the Spartans.

Boise State (21-7, 11-3 Western Athletic) leads the WAC by one game over Nevada.

Justin Graham scored 20 points for the Spartans (12-15, 4-9), who haven't beaten Boise State since Feb.1, 2002 -- San Jose State's only victory in 17 meetings with the Broncos.

Pacific 95, UC Davis 50

STOCKTON -- Chad Troyer made eight 3-pointers and scored a game- high 27 points to lead the Tigers (19-9, 9-5 Big West) over the Aggies (8-20, 2-12 Big West).

Troyer finished 8-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc as the Tigers made 52 percent of their 3-point shots and 67 percent of their field-goal attempts on the way to their highest scoring total of the season.