UCLA AHEAD OF THE PAC BRUINS BEAT CROSS-TOWN RIVAL USC.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

Even an hour after the fact, and knowing what the outcome of his two missed shots meant, UCLA wing Josh Shipp couldn't bring himself to say it was a good thing he missed the close-range shots.

But Shipp's two shots -- afloater along the baseline and the subsequent follow-up -- changed the complexion of the most fiercely contested Los Angeles derby in the past few years.

Because when Shipp finally corralled his second straight miss and laid it in, it led to an unfathomable five-point play and catapulted No. 2 UCLA to a 70-65 win against No. 19 USC in front of a season-high crowd of 12,810 Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

The win was UCLA's 18th straight at home, and pushed the Bruins (21-2, 10-2 Pacific-10 Conference) lead atop the Pac-10 to 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Washington State.

The Bruins step out of conference and play Saturday at West Virginia.

USC (18-7, 8-4) could have tied for first with a win, but now is two games back, and does not hold the tie-breaker with the Bruins, who swept the season series.

``That was a very important win over what I think is an outstanding team,'' UCLA coach Ben Howland said. ``It's an important win for us, but we have to turn around and leave the first thing in the morning. It's good to have a win as opposed to an `L' going on this long trip back to West Virginia.''

It was a grin-and-bear-it night for the Bruins, who didn't attack USC's 2-3 zone well, defended poorly and got a poor shooting performance from leading scorer Arron Afflalo (a season-worst 3 for 11).

The Bruins trailed 20-10 early as USC made nine of its first 11shots.

Despite cutting USC's lead to 30-29 at the half, the Trojans started the second half strong and went ahead 38-31.

``I thought (USC) did a good job of changing their man (defense) right back to a 2-3 zone,'' UCLA point guard Darren Collison said. ``That threw our rhythm out a little bit.''

But much of UCLA's frustration from an out-of-sync offense was pushed aside when Shipp connected on his third-chance bucket with 4:25 to play.

Not only was he fouled by USC's Nick Young, but senior guard Lodrick Stewart exacerbated the moment by slamming the basketball to the ground.

Stewart was whistled for a technical foul, Afflalo made the two free throws, Shipp added his free throw, and suddenly the Bruins had a 55-52 lead, their first of the game.

``I never want to miss those (shots),'' Shipp said. ``I think we just buckled down and didn't want to lose that game.''

Stewart has more pressing things on his mind than a basketball game.

He learned Monday of the death of his great-grandfather, and that his mother was hospitalized in Mississippi after suffering a nervous breakdown.

Stewart declined to comment on the technical, and coach Tim Floyd only said, ``I was disappointed.''

However, Young said Stewart's lapse was due to his trying week.

``He'd been going through a lot this week and it kind of showed at that point,'' Young said. ``We haven't seen Lod do anything like that in a while. All year he hasn't done anything like that. He's one of our leaders.''

UCLA built its lead to 59-54 in the final minute and had the ball, looking to take more time off the clock. As Collison dribbled near the mid-court line, backup center Alfred Aboya was being chased around the court by USC's defenders.

RouSean Cromwell, who was trying to foul Aboya -- a poor free-throw shooter -- eventually grabbed him by the back of the jersey.

Cromwell got the call, but it was an intentional foul. UCLA got two free throws (Aboya made one) and the ball.

``I wasn't going to let them catch me,'' Aboya said. ``I just kept running.''

Collison led UCLA with 17 points. Afflalo countered his poor shooting from the field by going nine of 10 from the free-throw line and finished with 16 points.

Young paced USC with 20 points while Gabe Pruitt chipped in 16.

``We were a little embarrassed about all the turnovers and missing open shots,'' Afflalo said. ``I don't think we played all that well, but we did stick it out.''

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA's Darren Collison drives to the basket as USC's Lodrick Stewart can only watch Wednesday in the Bruins' victory.

(2) Nick Young and the Trojans staked themselves to a 20-10 lead in the first half, but could not hold on at Pauley Pavilion.

(3) UCLA's Arron Afflalo is fouled en route to the basket by USC's Nick Young on Wednesday.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photogrpaher

Box:

PAC-10 STANDINGS