NCAA Game Summary - LSU vs. UCLA
04.1.2006
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Indianapolis, IN (Basketball News) - Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, as the UCLA Bruins punched their ticket into the national championship game after dominating the Louisiana State Tigers, 59-45, in a Final Four matchup at the RCA Dome.
Jordan Farmar netted 12 points for the Bruins (32-6), who extended the nation’s longest current win streak to 12 games while advancing to the title game for the first time since 1995. That’s also the last time UCLA won a national championship.
Arron Afflalo added nine points and six rebounds in the second-seeded Bruins’ 16th Final Four appearance.
UCLA will meet Florida in Monday’s title game after the Gators defeated darling George Mason, 73-58, earlier Saturday. The Bruins will be seeking their 12th NCAA title.
Glen "Big Baby" Davis paced the Tigers (27-9) with 14 points while pulling down seven rebounds, but he shot just 5-of-17 from the floor while Tasmin Mitchell added 12 points in the loss.
Darrel Mitchell contributed eight points for fourth-seeded LSU, which was playing in its first Final Four contest since the school made it as an 11th seed in 1986.
After defeating Iona and Texas A&M earlier in the NCAA Tournament, LSU downed both top-seeded Duke and second-seeded Texas to reach the tourney’s semis. However, the Tigers fell to 0-4 all-time in the Final Four.
LSU has also lost all eight of its meetings with UCLA.
UCLA shot a blistering 58.3 percent from the floor in the first half to LSU’s 30 percent.
Down 2-0 early, a jumper from Ryan Hollins started a 12-2 Bruins run that set the tone early. Afflalo capped the stretch, which spanned nearly 3 1/2 minutes, with a three-pointer with 15:24 left in the first half.
UCLA continued to roll in the opening 20 minutes as a small 8-2 run later gave the Bruins a 20-8 edge with 11:29 to go as Cedric Bozeman ended the spurt with a layup.
The Tigers got to within nine at 25-16 with 8:28 left in the first half after a layup and free throw by Darrel Mitchell, but UCLA answered with six straight to go up 31-16.
Neither team went on a big run for the rest of the half and the Bruins led 39-24 at halftime. Mbah a Moute led all scorers at the break with 12 points.
The Bruins then put the game away quickly in the second half, opening up the frame with an 11-3 run that lasted over seven minutes.
Mbah a Moute started the burst with two dunks, Hollins also converted a dunk and Farmer hit both a three-pointer and a jumper, the latter making it a 50-27 game with 15:44 to play.
Tasmin Mitchell made it a 21-point contest after his layup with 12:47 to go, but the Bruins led by as many as 24, 55-31, after a three-pointer by Michael Roll.
Surprisingly, LSU never got closer then 20 points until a layup by Davis with just over 2 1/2 minutes remaining made it a 58-39 game.
