UCLA is a long way from its peak

The engulfing noise of 14,160 fans, the smoky boom of the mascot’s musket and the pretty West Virginia backdoor cuts all combined to leave UCLA too far behind and without enough energy to make a complete comeback.

Unranked West Virginia upset the No. 2-ranked Bruins, 70-65, Saturday afternoon at WVU Coliseum. Behind by as many as 19 points (47-28 with 14:15 left), UCLA did pull within four, 47-43, after a 15-0 run capped by a Michael Roll three-pointer.

And on a possession with less than a minute to play and with the Bruins (21-3) trailing, 64-59, it seemed they might pull out an improbable victory. Roll missed a wide-open three, Josh Shipp rebounded. Arron Afflalo missed a wide-open three. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute rebounded. Mbah a Moute was fouled, but he made only one free throw and the game, finally, was over.

“We dug a big hole for ourselves,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. “We took a couple of shots that fueled their fire and we missed some good shots.”

Starting point guard Darren Collison, who is UCLA’s third-leading scorer and its leader in steals and assists, missed the game because of a left shoulder injury and starting center Lorenzo Mata, who has a sore left hip, played only 11 first-half minutes.

Collison said he still wasn’t sure when he hurt the shoulder, only that he knew it was sometime during Wednesday’s 70-65 win over USC.

The sophomore warmed up before the game, but he barely used his left hand and after the game wore a bag of ice on the shoulder.

Freshman Russell Westbrook got his first career start, but it was mostly a grim performance for the rookie.

“I didn’t play aggressive enough,” said a glum Westbrook, who didn’t want to look at a stat sheet showing his one-for-11 shooting performance.

“We lost this as a team,” said Afflalo, who tied a career high with 27 points and was one off his career high with nine rebounds.

The Bruins went 9 minutes 16 seconds at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second without a basket, after Alfred Aboya’s layup tied the score at 22-22 with 4:30 left in the first half.

West Virginia (19-5) finished the first half with a 10-0 spurt that featured two layups from freshman forward Da’Sean Butler and a layup and wide-open three-pointer by Alex Ruoff.

And UCLA scored only on three free throws -- one by Aboya and two by Afflalo -- in the opening minutes of the second half as the Mountaineers built a 43-25 lead. Afflalo ended the field-goal drought with a three-pointer. A minute later, West Virginia took its biggest lead of the game, 47-28.

“We came out really tough,” said West Virginia senior Frank Young, the only starter back from the team that upset UCLA last season at Pauley Pavilion. “We wanted to show from the start we’d fight for everything, box out, just being tough.”

Young finished with 14 points, Ruoff scored 18 and Butler had 13 off the bench.

The whisper of UCLA’s comeback (a two-footer from Aboya) became louder when Shipp, who had been scoreless in the first half, made his first basket and was fouled, then came right back to make a three-pointer to make the score 47-36.

Mbah a Moute collected his only basket of the game, Afflalo made two free throws and Roll knocked down his three to finish off a 15-0 UCLA run.

With 9:22 to play the Bruins were within four, but Roll’s three-pointer shot was the noisy crescendo for UCLA. West Virginia pushed its lead back to 52-43 and the constant fight from behind was too tough for the short-handed Bruins.

Although West Virginia scored 23 more points against UCLA than it did against Howland’s former team, Pittsburgh, in a 60-47 loss Wednesday, Howland didn’t criticize his defense.

“It was our inability to make shots,” said Howland, whose team shot 38.7% from the field (24 for 62) and made only six of 23 three-point attempts. “We air-banked shots from three feet. You expect a foul, a free throw, a made shot, not to air-bank it from three feet.”

The Bruins hurried away from Morgantown, eager to make a 70-mile trip back to Pittsburgh and a flight home. They have road games against Arizona State and Arizona this week, and their third road loss of the season a fresh memory.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com