A MATCHUP THAT REALLY ROCKED THE JOINT.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

Out of the blue, a great game.

From seeming disaster, a finish to remember.

Improbably, almost unexplainably, UCLA won Thursday night. Captured the Pacific-10 Conference championship. Defeated a Stanford team that seemed in control for almost the entire night.

The Bruins trailed by double digits throughout most of its showdown with Stanford, yet rallied to force overtime, in which it simply dominated on the way to a stunning 77-67 victory.

The Bruins overcame a miserable first half, scoring a season-low 18 points. They overcame continued shooting problems from Josh Shipp (1 for 9). Overcame the strong play of the Stanford's 7-foot Lopez twins.

And it came almost out of nowhere. They were still down by 11 with just more than five minutes to play in regulation.

The great Pac-10 game of the year, a game with so much on the line, with a conference title and possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and UCLA was looking like it wasn't up to the challenge.

Only the Bruins scraped and battled and kept pushing, gutting out the victory.

"We were very fortunate to come out on top tonight," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.

The Bruins received some timely play from Darren Collison, clutch play from Russell Westbrook down the stretch, a lucky bounce on a free throw by Westbrook with 20.5 seconds remaining in regulation and then a fortunate official's call that sent Collison to the line with 2.5 seconds left to tie the score and send it into overtime.

In OT, it was all UCLA. A team whose offense had looked so stagnant in the first half, continued its newfound aggressive play. A team that looked almost rattled in the first half, found a calm and poise.

One moment UCLA was looking at grand disappointment and an unsettled NCAA Tournament seeding, the next it was claiming its third consecutive Pac-10 championship.

It opened like it would be one of those great college basketball games, an almost ideal showdown between No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 Stanford.

UCLA students had camped out for days. Pauley Pavilion was rocking. It was early March Madness, had all the makings of a classic college basketball game.

Only Stanford jumped out so quickly, the Bruins looked lost. Stanford made its shots, controlled the tempo, frustrated UCLA into turnover after turnover.

UCLA fell behind 12-2 to start the game. Was down 30-18 at the half.

There was little for UCLA to draw hope from.

But UCLA made a charge. Led by Collison, the Bruins pulled to within two with 9:50 to play.

Stanford wouldn't rattle. The Lopez twins scored nine consecutive points and suddenly the Cardinal lead was back up to 11.

In truth, I thought it was over. Thought Stanford had put itself in position to nail a No. 1 NCAA seed.

Thought UCLA just wouldn't be able to pull it together.

Yet it's proving unwise to count out the Bruins.

There are times when they can almost look inept offensively. When they seem uncertain and little like one of the top teams in the country.

But even when they're at their most frustrating, they are tough. They are a veteran core with a tough 6-foot-10 center in Kevin Love. They are resilient.

Never more so than Thursday, when a Stanford team that had won 11 of its previous 12 games appeared the superior team for most of the night.

"I would love to see Stanford and us both in the Final Four," Howland said.

Stanford is led by sophomore Brook Lopez, who hardly disappointed in his personal matchup against Love.

Lopez finished with 18 points, 13rebounds and five assists. Love had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

"Brook Lopez is one of the best big men in the country," Howland said. "Whenever he comes out, he's going to be a lottery pick."

A 12-foot, baseline jumper by Lopez had Stanford up 56-45 with 5:35 to play. The Collison-led comeback seemed squashed, the great showdown headed for great UCLA disappointment.

Then Westbrook, who had been fairly quiet to that point, began to impact the game. He hit on a drive and then a pair of free throws. Love tipped in a Westbrook miss, and then Westbrook stole the ball that led to a pair of Love free throws.

The Bruins were down by three, and not ready to go quietly into anyone's night.

UCLA finally tied the score on those pair of Westbrook free throws, the first of which bounced halfway to Brentwood before somehow falling through the net.

"I was praying hard on Westbrook's first free throw," Howland said.

But Stanford forward Lawrence Hill drove downcourt and hit a pretty 5-foot jumper in the lane to give the Cardinal the lead with 7 seconds to play.

Collison quickly drove downcourt but was met by Hill when he tried a 12-foot jumper. He missed, but Hill was called for a questionable foul with 2.5 seconds to play.

Collison, who led UCLA with 24points, calmly hit both free throws to send the game into OT.

"I counted on that," Howland said. "He has steely nerves. He's just a great competitor."

In overtime, Collison fed Luc Mbah a Moute inside for UCLA's first lead since the opening basket. Lopez hit a short jumper to tie it, but then UCLA scored 10 unanswered points.

A tough loss had turned into UCLA's most memorable victory of the season.

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