O’Bannon, UCLA Have Never Been Hotter Than This

It was a basketball stampede, with all the requisite exchanges of bumps, thumps and wild words.

Over and over again Wednesday night, UCLA proved it had faster and bigger horses than USC, and over and over again, forward Charles O’Bannon was the fastest of them all.

Streaking down court at will, O’Bannon had a career-high 27 points, a season-high seven assists and a career-high tying 13 rebounds, lifting the 15th-ranked Bruins to a 99-72 victory before 12,635 at Pauley Pavilion.

O’Bannon made 11 of his 14 shots, leading UCLA, already the top-shooting team in the nation, to a school-record 73.1% shooting night.

“He was playing above the rim tonight,” said guard Toby Bailey, who was seven for 11 and had 16 points. “And I think it was about time for Charles to explode.”

Said O’Bannon, whose only negative note was his seven turnovers: “I didn’t go into tonight thinking to push anything or to try to make it my night. But my teammates found me, and when I got the opportunities I tried to finish it.”

During one stretch, the Bruins made 11 consecutive shots--O’Bannon was five for five with a three-point basket--as they coasted to a 50-30 halftime lead.

“He looked like he was on kind of a mission to prove something,” Trojan Coach Charlie Parker said.

And, with both sides chattering at each other throughout the contest, inevitably, there was a pushing altercation between UCLA’s Kris Johnson and USC’s Jaha Wilson and Stais Boseman with 17:31 left in the second half.

No punches were thrown, but Johnson and Wilson were given unsportsmanlike-conduct technicals and ejected.

“It’s always a hard-fought game, but their trash talking was ridiculous,” Bailey said. “Kris’ emotions just kind of got out of control a little bit.”

Johnson, for his part, said the incident started when he accidentally threw the ball off Wilson’s face as he was falling out of bounds. Wilson responded by chest-thumping Johnson, who was doing some bumping of his own.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, and I’d apologize to him if I saw him,” said Johnson, who said he had no quarrel with the decision to toss out both players.

Said Wilson: “Kris threw the ball at me and things just happened.”

Neither player was given a fighting technical, so there will be no suspensions.

“I don’t see why Johnson and Wilson were thrown out of the game,” Parker said. “There was bumping, but it really wasn’t a fight. They said it was unsportsmanlike conduct, but in a game like this, it was just being aggressive.”

O’Bannon, whose most newsworthy moment this season had been for his benching last week against Arizona State after drawing his third technical foul of the year, made all eight of his shots in an 18-point first half.

During the 23-7 rush in the last 7:14 of the half, O’Bannon scored 13 points and snapped a line-drive alley-oop pass to Bailey to start the run, which began with UCLA ahead, 27-23.

In the first half, O’Bannon had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. UCLA had 15 assists in the first half, and shot 84.6% (22 for 26)--also a school record.

Overall, the Bruins, 13-4 overall and 6-1 in conference play, had 23 assists.

“When you shoot the ball well, everything else falls into place,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said. “And we looked like a million dollars.”

The Bruins, who have struggled at times against the zone, shredded USC (10-8, 3-4) early when the Trojans went to a 1-1-3 zone. Then, when the Trojans abandoned the zone, O’Bannon and Johnson, who had 14 first-half points, took over against the mismatched USC lineup.

Trojan center Avondre Jones kept USC competitive early with 11 first-half points, but then the deluge started.

“It was definitely flowing,” Johnson said. “we shot 84% in the half, that’s ridiculous. It was just tough defense, get the rebound, and we’re off and running. We’re dangerous when we’re playing like that.”

Brandon Martin led USC with 22 points, 15 coming in the second half when the Bruins were well ahead. Boseman had 17 points, five assists and five steals, but made only six of his 17 shots.

UCLA also outrebounded the Trojans, 41-24, with J.R. Henderson chipping in seven, to go along with his 17 points on seven-for-nine shooting.

Said Parker: “Tonight, they looked better than last year’s team. I don’t think last year’s team did this to us, and I think we’re a better team than we were last year.”

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Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this story.