UCLA delivers pointed rebuke

First came the defense. Kevin Love stole the ball twice in a row from California forward Ryan Anderson. Darren Collison overpowered Bears point guard Jerome Randle with ball pressure and body-up power so ferocious that California had eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes.

From that came UCLA baby hooks and slam dunks and open three-pointers taken in high-stepping rhythm.

Third-ranked UCLA led early, middle and late and walloped California, 88-66, on Thursday in a quarterfinal game at the Pacific 10 Conference tournament at Staples Center in front of an announced crowd of 17,194. The ninth-seeded Bears finished with a 16-15 record and a slim hope of playing in the NIT.

For their efforts, the top-seeded Bruins (29-3) will play fourth-seeded USC at 6 tonight in the semifinals. The teams split their regular-season games -- USC won, 72-63, at Pauley Pavilion and UCLA won at the Galen Center, 56-46. This will be the first time UCLA and USC will meet in the conference tournament.

But the Bruins never spent a second looking ahead to the Trojans. They had heard enough talk from the Bears, who were publicly dismayed at having given up an 11-point second-half lead and losing to UCLA on Saturday, 81-80, in part because of two controversial non-calls by officials in the final 16 seconds.

The national conversation all week suggested UCLA was lucky enough but maybe not good enough to have beaten Stanford and California at Pauley Pavilion without an assist from the referees.

“I think Coach [Ben] Howland made sure we heard that,” Love said. “We wanted to come out today and prove we are deserving of a No. 1 NCAA seed and that we are the UCLA Bruins and that we earned it being Pac-10 champions. We wanted to come in and put ourselves in the right position the right way today.”

UCLA opened up a 16-4 lead with 13:26 left in the first half. Lorenzo Mata-Real, who has graciously spent his senior season as Love’s backup, scored a layup to give the Bruins that 16th point. It was an exhilarating time for Mata-Real, who had eight points, three rebounds and three blocked shots in the first 20 minutes because Love played only six minutes after getting his second foul with 11:05 to go.

Mata-Real finished the game with those eight points, three rebounds and four blocked shots, which tied a career high.

“I felt like my old self,” Mata-Real said. “It was a confidence booster. It was fun. My teammates were finding me, I was playing good defense, blocking shots. It was fun.”

The Bruins led, 39-25, at halftime and Love, made antsy by his bench time, started the second half by making three straight three-pointers, and with 5:11 left in the game UCLA led by 32 points, 78-46.

Collison’s 19 points led four UCLA double-figure scorers -- Josh Shipp had 18, Russell Westbrook had 12 and Love finished with 11. The Bruins, who had ranked ninth in the conference in three-point shooting, made 14 of 25 from long range with two misses coming from substitutes in the final, meaningless minutes.

The Bears, who played a physical game against Washington on Wednesday night, wouldn’t use fatigue as an excuse. “It’s tough on guys,” California Coach Ben Braun said. “But you have to give UCLA credit because they came in here with energy.”

California’s Anderson, who led his team with 15 points and seven rebounds, said it was UCLA’s defense that made the difference. “UCLA is a team that feeds off transition and bad shots,” he said. “They forced us into some bad shots, they fed off that and it’s how they got their runs.”

The rout allowed Howland a luxury he doesn’t always use -- playing his bench. Love played a season-low 19 minutes and Nikola Dragovic was in for 13 minutes, his most in a conference game this season.

UCLA players would not be drawn into a conversation that might promote this third game of the season against USC as any more important than any other postseason matchup that may come.

“We should be focused no matter what,” Shipp said. “We should be motivated, but if anyone needs that extra added motivation, SC might give us that.”

Mata-Real added: “This one is going to be really exciting. It will be physical and tough and hard fought. It’s going to be loud too.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com