Originally published Monday, February 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Pac-10 Men's Basketball | UCLA keeps its spot atop standings

UCLA returned to tough-nosed defense, its passion stoked by crosstown rival USC and first place in the Pac-10 on the line. Darren Collison scored 14...

By The Associated Press

Men's Pac-10 standings

LOS ANGELES — UCLA returned to tough-nosed defense, its passion stoked by crosstown rival USC and first place in the Pac-10 on the line.

Darren Collison scored 14 points, Kevin Love added 13 and the sixth-ranked Bruins won 56-46 Sunday night to remain atop the league by a half-game.

"I'd be lying if I said we didn't look at the standings," said Love, who grabbed 15 rebounds for his 15th double-double. "Tonight was a big win."

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 10 points and 10 rebounds in his return after missing two games because of a sprained left ankle. He backed up Russell Westbrook's stellar defense on O.J. Mayo, who scored a season-worst four points in 40 minutes.

Coming off a loss at Washington last Sunday, the Bruins (22-3, 10-2) maintained their narrow conference lead over No. 7 Stanford.

"Luc was a huge boost for us even though he's not at full strength," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Russell did a great job on Mayo, one of the best players in the country."

Taj Gibson had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 12 rebounds to lead the Trojans (15-9, 6-6), denied their first sweep in the crosstown rivalry since 2003-04.

Dwight Lewis added 16 points. Mayo took just eight shots (he averages 20.2 points), had nine rebounds and 10 turnovers.

"I played pretty good defense on myself with all the turnovers," Mayo said.

The Trojans never led by more than one point in the first half.

Gibson scored USC's first six points of the second half and Lewis added a basket to pull to four. But the Bruins used a 10-2 run to extend their lead to 45-33 with 11 ½ minutes remaining. Love scored five consecutive points and Collison completed a three-point play in the spurt.

Gibson's two free throws again drew the Trojans to four before both teams went into a shooting funk.

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