By snoadmin
WESTWOOD – UCLA head coach Ben Hovland was not happy that his team was only beating Long Beach State by five points at halftime.
“He was angry,” said UCLA guard Aaron Afflalo. “Our effort wasn’t there in the first half.”
But Hovland got through to his team, and No.1 UCLA scored the first 15 points in the second half to cruise to an 88-58 win over LBSU at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night.
“They kind of swept us after halftime,” Sterling Byrd said, who led LBSU in scoring with 15 points. “We turned the ball over too much and didn’t shoot well. We have eight seniors on this team and we have to start getting the job done.”
In the first 3:30 of the second half, UCLA turned a 41-36 lead into a 56-36 advantage. LBSU would get no closer than 16 points for the rest of the game.
The Bruins (5-0) were lights-out from behind the arch, hitting 13 of its 26 3-pointers, while the 49ers (2-3) made only three of its 12 shots from behind the arch.
“[UCLA] ran a lot of double-screen plays that freed up their shooters,” said LBSU head coach Larry Reynolds.
UCLA’s Josh Shipp was 6-for-9 on three-point shots as the sophomore guard scored a career-high 24 points in the win. Afflalo scored 20 points.
Byrd and Aaron Nixon were the only 49ers to score in double figures, with Nixon chipping in 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
LBSU had trouble holding on to the ball against UCLA’s active defense, turning over the ball 23 times to just 10 turnovers by the Bruins. UCLA’s Darren Collison had nine steals and UCLA had 15 in the game.
“[UCLA] is an extremely athletic team and are very good in transition,” Reynolds said. “We turned the ball over and they took advantage.”
In the first half, UCLA raced out to a 34-20 lead, but LBSU finished the half on a 16-7 run to close the deficit to five at halftime.
The Bruins kept the 49ers in the game going just 7-for-13 from the free throw line in the first half, but were 8-for-9 in the second half.
LBSU was without its starting point guard Kejuan Johnson, who was a preseason All-Conference selection.
According to the Long Beach State Sports Information Department, Johnson broke his nose last week in practice, but played with the injury when LBSU lost to USC last Friday.
On Monday, Johnson got his nose set and doctors estimate he will be out for four to five weeks.
“Everyone has to fill in and pick up the load,” Reynolds said. “Byrd has to continue to play well, and we need contributions from players like Tim Island and Dominic Freeman.”
LBSU has now lost 10 consecutive games against ranked opponents, with the last win against New Mexico State in 1994.
Even though LBSU, which was picked to win the Big West by the media, has lost three of its first five games, Reynolds isn’t concerned about the state of his team.
“Looking at our schedule, it was very possible we were going to be where we are now,” Reynolds said. “We have played Air Force, USC and UCLA, all very tough teams.”
LBSU will finish up its four-game road trip when the team travels east this weekend to meet Temple on Saturday and University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Sunday.
Temple (1-2) beat visiting Rutgers 77-54 last night for its first win of the season.
Dionte Christmas led Temple with 27 points making five of six three point attempts in the win over Rutgers.
Owls head coach Fran Dunphy is in his first season, taking over for college basketball legend John Chaney, who won 714 games in his career.
Before the season started, Temple was picked to finish in ninth place in the 14-team Atlantic 10 conference.
UMBC (3-3) will meet St. Johns on Friday night before it goes up against LBSU Sunday afternoon.
The Retrievers are 1-1 at home on the young season and have won three of their last four games.
UMBC has a balanced scoring attack with Jay Greene (12.8 ppg), Chris Pugh (12.7 ppg) and Brian Hodges (12.2 ppg).
