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Shipp's last second shot lifts UCLA over Cal

Mar 9, 2008 - 1:10 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Josh Shipp made a last-second shot over the backboard to lift No. 2 UCLA to an 81-80 comeback victory over California on Saturday in the Pac-10 regular-season finale for both teams.

Freshman Kevin Love scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds and Shipp finished with 12 points for the Bruins (28-3, 16-2 Pac-10), who have won seven consecutive contests.

The Golden Bears (15-14, 6-12) led most of the way, but UCLA rallied late to hand California its sixth straight setback.

A rally from a double-digit deficit was capped with one second remaining when Shipp took an inbound pass at the left wing, drove down the baseline and floated a running jumper over the corner of the backboard.

"It was definitely a desperation shot," Shipp said. "I was trying to get to the other side of the backboard, I was forced to shoot it. It was one of those 'horse' shots and was fortunate to have it go down."

The basket gave the Bruins an 81-80 edge, their first lead since the opening three minutes of the contest.

"I was proud of our comeback, especially being down in both halves," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "The team had a great attitude and they never stopped believing they would win the game."

Jerome Randle made a pair of free throws to give the Golden Bears an 80-76 advantage with 31 seconds left to play. But Love answered with an awkward 3-pointer - trying to draw a foul - to cut the deficit to one.

On the ensuing inbound pass, Cal forward Ryan Anderson had the ball knocked off him out of bounds. Before Shipp's heroics, Russell Westbrook had his driving attempt blocked out of bounds by Jamal Boykin with six seconds left.

"Those were two incredible shots to win the game," Howland said. "Kevin's three pointer was with a defender hanging on him. The steal to get the ball back was also huge. And then there was Josh's 'horse' shot."

The critical turnover ruined an otherwise great night for Anderson, who finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.

"When the games down the stretch like that, and we're inbounding the ball, they're suppose to foul," Anderson said of the turnover. "They clearly tackled me, maybe hit me and I fell to the ground looking for the foul and it didn't go our way. That's just frustrating, really frustrating."

"I feel bad for our guys," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "Ryan Anderson was clearly fouled on that play, but they didn't call it. No way that should have happened."

Westbrook scored 18 points, Darren Collison collected 13 and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 12 and 10 rebounds as all five UCLA starters scored in double figures.

Boykin had 18 points and Patrick Christopher and Randle each added 13 for Cal, which held a 11-point lead with just over nine minutes remaining.

The Golden Bears shot 54 percent (28-of-51) from the field but allowed too many second chances - surrendering 12 offensive rebounds to the Bruins.