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They win at Galen Center despite shooting 33.9%, as Trojans commit 22 turnovers (to UCLA's 10) and are outscored 12-4 at free-throw line.

By Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

February 18, 2008

Even with USC's most steadying player sidelined and fatigue setting in among the four Trojans starters who played all 40 minutes Sunday night at the Galen Center, things remained very much unsettled going into the final few minutes.

But a flurry of UCLA misses was offset by a barrage of USC turnovers down the stretch of the sixth-ranked Bruins' 56-46 victory that gave them a split of the regular-season series.

Trojans freshman guard O.J. Mayo committed three of his career-worst 10 turnovers in the final four minutes to cap a frustrating night in which he scored only four points, breaking his string of 23 consecutive games in double digits to open his college career.

"I think I played pretty good defense on myself with all the turnovers," said Mayo, who was playing in front of his mother for the first time in a home game. "It's always going to be difficult when you have a player with 10 turnovers. I think that was the big story of the game."

Freshman center Kevin Love had 13 points and 11 rebounds for UCLA, which improved to 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference after making six of seven free throws in the final 56 seconds.

Bruins junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, back in the starting lineup following a two-game absence because of a sprained ankle, also logged a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"It's a great win for us to bounce back after a disappointing loss a week ago" at Washington, said UCLA Coach Ben Howland, whose team shot only 33.9% but forced 22 turnovers and committed only 10. "SC's a great team. I fully expect them to be in the NCAA tournament."

The Trojans (15-9, 6-6) might be hard-pressed to get there unless sophomore guard Daniel Hackett returns from a stress fracture in his lower back or they can find some reserve guards Coach Tim Floyd trusts to rest his starters. Guards Mayo, Angelo Johnson and Dwight Lewis all played the entire game Sunday.

"We just felt like we were better served with the men who were out there," said Floyd, who noted that he didn't think fatigue was a factor because his players were still defending at a high level and pulling down defensive rebounds.

But Hackett seemed to disagree after watching his teammates go scoreless for a stretch of 5 minutes 35 seconds late in the game.

"Guys were tired out there," Hackett said. "It's tough when you have six guys and they have fresh guys coming in every three minutes."

Though Mayo insisted the strained left groin he suffered in practice this week was not an issue, Hackett said Mayo "was on one leg" and had acknowledged to Hackett before the game that it was bothering him.

Mayo didn't score his first basket until the final two minutes of the first half on an alley-oop feed from Lewis. He scored his other basket midway through the second half on a driving layup.

Sophomore forward Taj Gibson had 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks for the Trojans, who were wearing black uniforms with red trim as part of a "Black Out the Bruins" promotion.

UCLA appeared on its way to a comfortable victory with 11:33 remaining when Mayo had the ball stripped and Darren Collison went in for a layup, drew a foul and made the free throw to complete a three-point play that gave the Bruins a 45-33 advantage.

The Trojans eventually pulled to within 46-42 on a two free throws by Lewis, who finished with 16 points, before going scoreless over the next 5 1/2 minutes. But the Bruins, who shot only 29.6% in the second half, kept missing shots to keep things close.

Mayo compounded USC's troubles during the scoreless stretch by missing two three-point attempts that could have pulled the Trojans to within three.

He also made a lazy interior pass to Jefferson that was intercepted, and then traveled twice in the last two minutes.

"Any time a player has 10 turnovers, it's going to hurt the team and tonight I did," Mayo said. "I really have to get better in that area."

ben.bolch@latimes.com