In the end, Stanford played its best game of the season. But it wasn’t enough against one of the best teams in the country.

UCLA (27-3, 15-2) downed the Cardinal 77-67 in overtime to clinch its third straight Pac-10 title, rallying from a 56-45 deficit with 5:35 left in the second half. Bruin point guard Darren Collison scored 24 points, 19 after halftime, and shooting guard Russell Westbrook added 17 of his 19 points after the first 20 minutes. Robin (14 points, 6-of-8 shooting) and Brook Lopez (18 points on 8-of-22 shooting, 13 rebounds) led the way for Stanford.

“We lost in overtime to the Pac-10 champions,” said coach Trent Johnson, who, along with Brook Lopez, was visibly frustrated and short-spoken in his post-game interview. “The players, they played well for 42 minutes but came up short.”

With the game tied at 61 and seven seconds left in regulation, Stanford (24-5, 13-4 Pac-10) junior forward Lawrence Hill drove right into the paint and banked in a running right-handed hook off the backboard. He looked to have either travelled or charged, but there was no whistle on the play.

“We were methodical — just played hard and executed real well,” said Hill, who called the loss one of Stanford’s best games of the season.

Collison then drove quickly up the left side of the court and drew the slightest of contact on Hill with two seconds left in regulation, in what looked to be make-up call.

“Everyone saw the play and can have their opinions of whether it was body, wrist, straight-up or all ball,” point guard Mitch Johnson said of Hill’s contact.

Collison, a 90 percent free throw shooter on the season, made both the free throws, and Anthony Goods airballed a shot from halfcourt to send the teams into overtime tied at 63.

“I don’t think we feel the pressure got to us or we played not to lose,” Mitch Johnson said. “Looking back, there was no one glaring mistake. Collison played great. The whole team did.”

The Bruins trailed 60-57 with 49 seconds left in regulation when Westbrook grabbed Mbah a Moute’s missed free throw and laid-in the rebound off the glass. Brook Lopez, fouled by Love, split his free throws to put Stanford ahead 61-59 with 22 seconds left in regulation, but Westbrook then quickly received the in-bounds pass and drew a blocking call in the backcourt on Taj Finger.

Westbrook, a 71 percent free throw shooter this season, nailed both free throws — the first hitting the back iron and arcing some five feet in the air — to tie the game at 61-61 with 20 seconds left in regulation.

“When Russell hit that free throw, I was praying,” Bruin coach Ben Howland said. “Those were some huge foul shots.”

UCLA controlled the opening tip and just about everything else in overtime. After a scoreless first two minutes of the five-minute period, Brook Lopez countered a Luc Richard Mbah a Moute slam dunk with a five-foot bank in from the right block, where he was regularly double-teamed on the evening. The contest was tied at 65-apiece with 2:15 to go, but UCLA had worn Stanford down.

“He went right in trying to draw fouls, but we did a real good job of containing him,” wunderkid freshman center Kevin Love (17 points, 10 rebounds) said of Brook Lopez. “He’s a great player, but yeah, he probably got discouraged.”

Collison missed an easy scoop but tipped in his miss, and Mbah a Moute stripped Goods on the other end. Brook Lopez then blocked Love’s point-blank lay-in attempt — right to Westbrook, who hit a five-foot running lay-in to push UCLA ahead 69-65 with 1:13 to go.

After an in-bounds pass caromed out-of-bounds off Lawrence Hill’s leg, Stanford had to start fouling and never threatened the Bruins again.

“We had a lot of turnovers and loose balls and allowed a lot of second shots, but if we did that earlier in the year, we would have lost by 20,” Hill said. “It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but I think we’re still fine.”

Down 11 with 5:35 left in the second half, Westbrook scored four straight, then Love did the same, cutting Stanford’s lead to 56-53 with 3:17 left in the second — setting the stage for Westbrook and Collison.

“They’re a very, very good team,” Trent Johnson said. “They made beautiful plays defensively.”

Stanford led 30-18 at the half as UCLA shot just 7-of-22 (32 percent) in their lowest scoring half of the season. Anthony Goods scored nine on the period for the Cardinal, and Brook Lopez added six points and eight rebounds.

“We were too juiced up,” said UCLA coach Ben Howland, whose team came out ice-cold, spotting Stanford a 12-2 lead. “We took a lot of bad shots. Stanford had something to do with it.”

But when it mattered most, Love and the Bruins were able to shut down Stanford’s posts. Of Stanford’s 28 points in the paint, 20 came in the first half. Instead, it was Collison, Westbrook and the Bruins making the plays when they mattered most, in front of 12,400 screaming fans at sold-out Pauley Pavilion.

Stanford, meanwhile, now needs to turn around quickly for an 11 a.m. tilt at USC on deck tomorrow. The Trojans (19-10, 10-7 Pac-10) downed Cal (15-13, 6-11 Pac-10) 93-89 in overtime last night.

“My focus is SC,” Trent Johnson said. “We could have won this contest, but UCLA is a very good team.”