Memphis Rolls Past UCLA

MEMPHIS 78, UCLA 63-----------------------

By Matt Santillo

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- Having beaten Oregon twice during the season, UCLA had no answers for a similar offense that had a little bit of something extra. Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 28 points and freshman Derrick Rose added 25 as Memphis pummeled the Bruins, 78-63, in the national semifinals of the Final Four on Saturday evening.

Winning for the 12th straight time, the Tigers (38-1) advanced to the championship game for the first time since 1973. They will face either North Carolina or Kansas on Monday night. Asked to compared Memphis to a team from the Pac-10 in Friday's pregame press conference, UCLA center Kevin Love said that the Tigers reminded him a lot of Oregon - "on steroids."

The freshman sensation got a firsthand taste of that Saturday, as Douglas-Roberts and Rose had very little trouble getting the shots that they wanted while Love and his teammates had to fight for most of their points. The Tigers led by as many as seven points in the first half, but had to settle for a 38-35 edge at the break after the Bruins scored six of the final eight points. Douglas-Roberts and Rose combined for 24 points in the opening half, and had eight together in the opening moments of the second half to give Memphis a 48-37 bulge.

In the Final Four for a third straight time, UCLA (35-4) did close within 50-45 on a layup by Alfred Aboya with 13:39 to play, but Memphis answered back with six of the next eight points, pulling ahead, 56-47, on a layup by Rose with 11:12 left. Scoring at least 23 points for the fourth time in five games, Douglas-Roberts added an exclamation point to the Tigers' impressive showing with a thunderous dunk over Love on a back-door cut from the right baseline, making it 61-52 with 4:56 remaining. Russell Westbrook had 22 points for the Bruins. Love finished with just 12, including two in the second half.