PAC IT UP: BRUINS ALL ALONE ATOP CONFERENCE AFFALO SCORES 17 POINTS, AS UCLA AVENGES EARLIER LOSS TO OREGON.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

A Pacific-10 Conference title was not clinched, but the prospects of one grew closer.

UCLA did not secure a No. 1 seed in next month's NCAA Tournament, but the possibility gained significant momentum.

What transpired a month ago in Emerald Empire now appears to be more fluke than an actual challenge to UCLA's Pac-10 title aspirations.

In the most important game of the season, UCLA was at its best as guard Arron Afflalo led a scorching offense with 17points and the defense bottled up Oregon.

When it was done, fifth-ranked UCLA had seized control of the conference race with a 69-57 victory of the ninth-ranked Ducks in front of 12,113 Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (19-2, 8-2 Pac-10) hold a one-game lead over the Ducks (19-3, 7-3), who are tied with Washington State (18-4, 7-3) and USC (17-6, 7-3) for second place after matching their lowest scoring output of the season.

``We're never going to be the underdogs in this conference,'' Bruins point guard Darren Collison said. ``We have to prove that we're the best by taking it one game at a time, and making a statement like we did (Thursday).''

But most important for the Bruins, who avenged last month's two-point loss at Oregon, the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Ducks is now a wash. UCLA again appears to be the team to beat in the race for the conference title, and a possible No. 1 seed in the West in the NCAAs.

``This game means a lot,'' UCLA power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said. ``This will boost our confidence level.''

Afflalo paced the offense, but he had plenty of help as the Bruins hit open jumpers in the first half, then attacked the smaller Ducks on the inside after the break.

UCLA shot 57.1 percent (28 of 49) from the field and had four players score in double digits. Afflalo was joined by Josh Shipp (11 points), Collison (12) and Mbah a Moute (15), who also grabbed 12rebounds.

``I thought Luc's minutes were just unbelievably terrific,'' UCLA coach Ben Howland said.

``You look at his line, he has 12rebounds, 15 points, four blocks, four steals, played great defense. Really played with a lot of passion.''

Oregon was led in scoring by Harvard-Westlake of Studio City product Bryce Taylor, who had 17 points.

Senior guard Aaron Brooks, who came into the game leading the Pac-10 in scoring at 19.1 points per game, finished with 14, but his impact was not felt Thursday. He didn't score until a 3-pointer with 5:21 remaining in the first half, and by then the Bruins built a 29-14 lead.

``(Brooks) was still making hard shots. I want to hold the guy to zero,'' Afflalo said. ``The fact that he's the guy that pushes them over the top, you just want to try and slow him down a little bit.''

Even when Oregon trimmed UCLA's lead to 35-26 at the half, the Bruins' defense again tightened on Brooks, as well as the rest of the Ducks, who opened the second half by going more than five minutes without a field goal.

And while UCLA's defense clamped down, the outside-oriented offense of the first half went inside to start the second.

Afflalo started a 7-0 run to begin the second half with a floater down the lane, Shipp dunked off a pretty spinning pass from Collison in transition and Mata had a dunk from a feed from Afflalo and added a free throw to give UCLA a 42-26 lead.

``Taking good shots, especially being patient,'' Howland said was the key to the superb shooting. ``I thought early in the game, we really made the extra pass.''

The Bruins' sloppy, lackadaisical play allowed the Ducks to close to 60-51 on Malik Hairston's follow-up dunk and free throw with 4:09 to play -- and trigger memories of Sunday's blown 17-point lead in the loss at Stanford -- but Mbah a Moute quickly restored order with a put-back on UCLA's next possession.

``The last three or four games, we have been flat in the first half,'' Ducks coach Ernie Kent said. ``In this contest, we came out flat in the second half as well. (UCLA) had a lot of fight. It was a physical game. The difference is they shot better.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA's Darren Collison reacts after making a 3-pointer in the first half Thursday against Oregon. Collison scored 12 points.

(2) UCLA's Arron Afflalo goes to the basket against Oregon on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion. Afflalo finished with 17 points.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer