UCLA Basketball Tickets- Bruins Extend Win Streak to Five by Brent Warnken

Darren Collison scored 15 points, Nikola Dragovic added 12 points, and Josh Shipp and freshman Jrue Holiday had 10 points each, and the Bruins whip Washington State 64-53 Thursday. UCLA has won five straight and look to extend their winning streak to six when they tipoff against their cross-town rival Southern California on Friday. Although the Bruins and Cougars split their regular season meetings, with the two games decided by only three points, last night's contest exhibited a blowout until the final minutes of the game. UCLA showed no mercy as they scored seven in a row, hitting five of six free throws, to go up 40-24. Purchase UCLA basketball tickets to see the Bruins torch the net.

Although Washington State countered attack with six consecutive points, there were still in a 40-30 hole and the Bruins continued their offensive assault. Collison and Alfred Aboya's four straight free throws gave UCLA a commanding 51-32 lead with only 7:57 left on the game clock. UCLA Coach Ben Howland knew they had a comfortable lead and decided to rest his starters until reinserting all of them late in the game. To say the Cougars struggled offensively in the first half would be an understatement. They hit just 7-of-34 from the floor while UCLA shot 41 percent. Ben Howland was pleased with his defense, telling his players after the game, that was a phenomenal defensive effort. He also told the team that's what it takes to win postseason play.

If only the same Bruins team arrived to play their A-game against Washington State in last month's 82-81 loss at home, UCLA would have been crowned Pac-10 Champions. But all that is behind them now as they look forward to battle the sixth-seeded Trojans. Washington State fans are probably wondering what happened to their Cougars? Aron Baynes was the only player in double figures with 22 points for the cougars and shot 30 percent from the floor. However, the big Aussie was limited to only six rebounds. The Cougars couldn't maintain a constant offensive flow throughout the game. They used a 13-4 run over the end of the first half and closed the gap to 33-24. The team didn't get within single digits again until the final minute. The Bruins shut down Taylor Rochestie. He had one 3-pointer, which was his only field goal of the evening. Collison smothered Rochestie and made sure he wouldn't be a factor in the game. Taylor was 1-for-11 for eight points, while freshman Klay Thompson was 2-of-11 for five points.

Taylor scored a career-high 33 points in his team's 82-81 victory against the Bruins in last month's contest. But this game was really a tale of two cities since Washington State did not show up. Or did they? Were they just out matched by UCLA's defense? After all, Washington State's only offensive threat of the night had been Baynes and he was almost hyperventilating because of the game of hurt UCLA brought in the match-up. The Cougars easily pulled off a victory against Oregon 62-40 in a first-round game Wednesday night, but they found out that they were no match for the well-rested Bruins.

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