LOS ANGELES — Michael Roll scored 19 points, Reeves Nelson added 18 and UCLA held off Arizona 75-69 Thursday in a Pac-10 Conference tournament quarterfinal between two powerhouses that once ruled the league but have struggled this season.
The entire conference has fallen down nationally, and after getting six teams into the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons, the Pac-10 will be fighting to have two this time.
No schools better illustrate the league’s current woes than Arizona and UCLA, which have won a combined seven Pac-10 tourney titles, with the Wildcats taking four in a row during one stretch.
Instead of playing for another title, though, the fourth-seeded Wildcats and No. 5 Bruins were relegated to an afternoon quarterfinal game in a half-empty Staples Center that had more Arizona fans than those rooting for the local Bruins.
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