Nov. 19, 2007

Final Stats |  AP Photo Gallery 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The shots weren't falling, the ball seemed to sail out of bounds more often than it went in the basket.

Good thing UCLA can play defense.

Kevin Love scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, helping second-ranked UCLA overcome a sloppy first half in a 71-59 victory over Maryland on Monday night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic.

UCLA (4-0) had just eight scholarship players in uniform due to injuries to several key players and it showed early with numerous turnovers and bad shots. But the Bruins, led by Love's crisp passing against Maryland's press, settled things down by the second half.

UCLA shot just 37 percent, including 4-of-13 from 3-point range, but out-rebounded the Terrapins 44-29 to move onto the championship game Tuesday night against either No. 10 Michigan State or Missouri, which played later Monday.

"To win shooting 37 percent says a lot about our defense," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.

Maryland had 21 turnovers and was just 1-for-11 on 3-pointers, keeping its streak of at least one 3-pointer alive at 289 games when Eric Hayes connected with 28 seconds left. Greivis Vasquez had 19 points and Bambale Osby added 13 for the Terrapins, who had 11 fewer offensive rebounds.

"They were always getting second shots when they did miss," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "Rebounding a lot of times is effort, not technique."

Love had his way the first three games, averaging 20.7 points and 10.3 rebounds, while shooting 65 percent. But that was against the likes of Portland State, Youngstown State and Cal State-San Bernadino.

The burly 6-foot-10 forward didn't have as much luck against the bigger, stronger Terrapins early, forcing up several shots against double teams without much success. He figured it out quickly, though, using patience against the banging instead of trying to bull through it.

Love had 10 rebounds in the first half and hit a 3-pointer before flipping in a quick tip shot at the buzzer to put the Bruins up 28-18.

He then hit a couple of tip-ins to start the second half, starting a 15-5 run that put UCLA up 43-23, and later made a crisp pass to break the press, setting up a 3-pointer by Russell Westbrook to end a brief Maryland run.

Love wasn't the only one who struggled early.

UCLA was again without point guard Darren Collison, who hasn't played since spraining his left knee in a preseason game Nov. 2. The Bruins struggled without their floor leader in the first half, turning the ball over 12 times and hitting just 11 of 33 shots against Maryland's pressure.

They got better in the second half, but still allowed Maryland to keep it somewhat close.

"We were short-handed and got fatigued at the end," Howland said.

As bad as UCLA was early, Maryland was worse.

Maryland had 14 turnovers and shot 8-of-24 from the floor in the first half, frustrating Williams, who spent most of the half muttering to the players on the bench and putting his hands on his head in disbelief.

"I don't know if we were nervous or not, but we got off to a poor start," Williams said.