Mata muscles up to carry the Bruins

Sometimes, one must search for the beauty of basketball. To find it Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion, one needed to look past the off-kilter jump shot of Arron Afflalo, the fumbleitis of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the charging foul by Josh Shipp on the very first play of top-ranked UCLA’s 78-54 win over Cal State Fullerton.

In a game that was predicted to be fast-paced and high scoring, it was the relentless desire of junior center Lorenzo Mata to accept the pushes and shoves, the swinging elbows, the physical hurt it takes to get a rebound, that made the difference.

Mata had a career-high 16 of them, to go with his nine points for the Bruins (7-0). He got a heartfelt cheer when he made his first free throw, after missing his first five. If only Mata had made more than one of his free throws, he would have had a double-double.

The Bruins overcame an early 10-point deficit not because Afflalo made a buzzer-beating three-point basket to end the first half or because Shipp made a three-pointer with 7 minutes 44 seconds left to put the Bruins up, 56-47, and push the Titans (5-2) down for good.

It was Mata, whose biceps are bulging but whose strength comes from his sturdy legs, who played the stout defense and who insisted with his body language that every rebound should belong to him.

“I want to commend Lorenzo Mata,” Coach Ben Howland said. “He was absolutely phenomenal on the glass. I’m really proud of him.”

Mata said he didn’t know about the 16 rebounds until he left the game and assistant coach Kerry Keating gave him the news.

“Coach Keating told me 16 rebounds,” Mata said. “I said, ‘Really, 16? I couldn’t believe it.”

His final points came, most fittingly, on an offensive rebound that put UCLA ahead, 70-52, with 2:38 left. Afflalo had missed a layup that he had earned with a swift glide past a defender. But the pretty play wasn’t finished. It was Mata who cleared space and owned the basketball.

The win was satisfying to Howland for the way it played out.

This was the third consecutive Big West Conference opponent for the Bruins and, try as they might, it seemed the players were having a hard time getting up to full speed.

Even Darren Collison, the sophomore point guard who has made almost all the right decisions this season, always looking for his teammates to score, usually making the extra pass, took an inconsiderate three-point shot early in an offensive set. The shot missed badly, Fullerton senior Bobby Brown scored on a driving layup, the Titans were only behind, 24-20, and Howland called a timeout that was spent mostly with Howland yelling in Collison’s ear.

By halftime, the Bruins had as many turnovers (14) and as many rebounds (17) as the underdog Titans.

But the crowd of 7,945 was brought to its feet anyway. By football.

About 30 of the football Bruins ran onto the court. Coach Karl Dorrell, in his sedate gray sweater vest and black slacks, pumped up the passion level. “Was that a gratifying win or what?” Dorrell asked. He was speaking, of course, of UCLA’s upset of USC on Saturday. The Bruins basketball team didn’t want to feel the same thing.

It was an odd night. Freshmen James Keefe and Russell Westbrook each had more points (four) than Mbah a Moute (two). The Bruins had 21 turnovers after having 69 in their first six games. But their defense forced 28 turnovers too.

“I’m exhausted,” Howland said. “That was a hard-fought game and not because of anything we didn’t do well. The reason it was such a tough game is because they’re good.”

Howland was also pleased with the job Afflalo did guarding Brown, who had a team-high 18 points. Seven of those came in the first four minutes and that’s when Howland gave Afflalo (Centennial High) the responsibility of stopping Brown (Westchester High). The two had played against each other in high school and the summer. As usual, the modest Afflalo wouldn’t accept the praise.

“It was a mixture of me and Darren,” said Afflalo, who had a game-high 20 points. “We’re a pretty good defensive backcourt as a whole. Whenever we throw both of us on a guard, it’s going to be a long night for them.”

Coach Bob Burton said it was obvious his team tired out.

“They wore us down with their strength and defense,” Burton said. “They are such a second-half team. And because they are so good defensively, you can’t make that many turnovers.”

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UCLA held the Titans, who were averaging 90 points a game, to their lowest total this season.... For the second time this season, Mata’s errant free-throw shooting kept him from having double figures in scoring and rebounding. Against Georgia Tech in the Maui Invitational championship game, Mata had nine points and 10 rebounds and was one for eight in free throws. He was one for six against Fullerton. “I’m shooting 100 extra after practice,” Mata said.

diane.pucin@latimes.com