Los Angeles ? Arron Afflalo scored 18 points, and No. 18 UCLA squelched Temple’s second-half surge for a 54-47 victory in the Preseason NIT Thursday night.

The Bruins (2-0) advanced to next week’s semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where They’ll play the Memphis Tigers. The Bruins last reached the semifinals in 1992, losing to Seton Hall.

The Owls (1-1) were led by Mardy Collins with 15 points.

The Owls came out of halftime trailing by 15, and quickly got back into the game with a 19-9 run to start the second. Collins scored nine points as Temple trailed 42-37 with 9:18 remaining.

The Bruins, who solved Temple’s zone so well in the first half, struggled against it later on. But Temple didn’t score a field goal in the final 6:53, and the cold-shooting Bruins held on.