Westwood , CA – Tonight the UCLA Bruins hosted the USC Trojans at Pauley Pavilion. These two highly competitive rivals have played for a grand total of 244 games for the right to say they are the kings of Los Angeles. And the crown gets the strut back to the Eastside of town with the USC Trojans final score USC 89 UCLA 75.
The Pavilion was all a buzz with almost 13,000 fans coming to see the crosstown rival show. The Trojans did not disappoint. The Bruins were offensively lukewarm at best and defensively downright subzero freezing even a blind man could see that the Bruins had no answer for the Trojans set your soul on fire offense. USC’s Chimezie Metu had an awesome night with 21 points, Jordan McLaughlin with his acrobatic aerial over the head layups. Even the non-Trojan fans were in ah of the beauty and effortless manner in which he delivered those unanswered shots.
The Bruins were not asleep at the wheel altogether, offensively they had four players score double digits Tony Parker 27, Thomas Welsh 16, Aaron Holiday 11 and Isaac Hamilton 10. UCLA made a 9 point run trying to close in on the lead but it was all in vain as the Trojans clearly have learned from their mistakes in the past and decided not to put the second half in neutral but to move full steam ahead with a mission of closing the game out and play every last second.
The Trojans have earned bragging rights until their next meeting with the Bruins on February 4th. With tonight’s win the Trojans been able to say 106 times that L.A. is their town. I’m pretty sure I heard a Bruin whisper, “for now”.
Both teams should have some great games ahead in the Pac-12 with conference play now in full swing. The Bruins & Trojans will go on the road next week to face Oregon & Oregon State.
