UCLA lets up, then nails down victory

UCLA guard Malcolm Lee, right center, celebrates with teammates Reeves Nelson, right, Lazeric Jones, left, and Tyler Lamb after hitting a three-pointer during the second half of the Bruins' 75-59 victory Tuesday. (Bret Hartman / Associated Press)

UCLA lets up, then nails down victory

Bruins need a second-half run to defeat Montana State, 75-59

UCLA BASKETBALL

December 21, 2010|By Ben Bolch
The Los Angeles Times


They said it wouldn't happen again, and it didn't.

Instead of a start-to-finish letdown against another seemingly overmatched opponent, UCLA appeared on the verge of an epic collapse.


When Montana State guard Erik Rush went in for a reverse layup early in the second half Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion, the Bobcats had wiped out all of a 15-point deficit and the Bruins faced the prospect of going 0-for-the-Big-Sky-Conference.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland immediately called a timeout, berating his players about their poor rebounding. He punctuated the session by slamming a clipboard to the court.

"That's when we went on the run," Bruins guard Malcolm Lee said.

And what a run it was. UCLA used a 24-5 surge to secure a 75-59 victory that nevertheless left the Bruins with bigger issues than a ragged triumph.

They played the final 8 minutes 20 seconds without Tyler Honeycutt after the sophomore clutched his right shoulder in pain and walked off the court.

He was diagnosed with a sprained right AC joint and is considered doubtful for UCLA's game against UC Irvine on Thursday, though Howland said he did not anticipate the injury being a long-term problem.

Honeycutt, who had nine points and four rebounds, was scheduled to undergo an X-ray and an MRI exam.

The Bruins (7-4) were comfortably enough ahead at the end that they were able to play walk-ons Blake Arnet and Tyler Trapani for the final 38 seconds. But their fourth consecutive victory still sapped some of the momentum from a recent triumph over nationally ranked Brigham Young.

"I think we just got out to a big lead against a team that we didn't consider as dangerous as BYU or Kansas and we kind of got lackadaisical," said sophomore forward Reeves Nelson, who scored 15 points.

Asked if the Bruins were good enough to take teams lightly, Nelson paused before teammate Joshua Smith interjected.

"Say no," Smith told him.

"No," Nelson said.

Lee scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half as the Bruins overcame a three-point deficit with 15:10 remaining by rattling off the next 12 points.

Howland said he could sense a poor performance coming when his players were "way too loosey-goosey" in practice Monday.

"Part of that was we had a great game on Saturday" against BYU, Howland said. "We have to learn how to handle success better because we didn't have one of our better practices. The last time we had a practice like that was before Montana."

The atmosphere also felt a lot like it did during the Bruins' 66-57 loss to Montana earlier this month. There were so few students in attendance that it would have been faster for the UCLA players to conduct a pregame roll call of them than vice versa.

The Bruins actually had plenty of early energy, scoring the game's first eight points and building a 22-7 lead.

But Montana State (6-6) cut its deficit to seven points by halftime and opened the second half with a flourish, scoring 13 of the first 17 points amid a flurry of rebounds and putbacks, before UCLA finally snapped out of its funk.

"Hopefully, we'll learn something from it," Howland said.
_________

Recap: U-C-L-A vs. Montana State

By Sports Network
The Sports Network
via the Kansas City Star
Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2010 12:48 AM


Malcolm Lee tallied a team-best 18 points as he helped lead the UCLA Bruins to a 75-59 win over the Montana State Bobcats in non-conference play at Pauley Pavilion.

Also scoring in double figures for the Bruins (7-4) was Reeves Nelson with 15 points, while Joshua Smith contributed with nine points and nine rebounds in the team's fourth straight victory.

The Bobcats (6-6) were paced by Erik Rush with 13 points and Tre Johnson 12 as the squad fell to 0-6 on the road so far this season.

UCLA ran out to an 8-0 lead in the first half and despite hitting just 1-of-6 behind the three-point line, was able to put up a 36-29 lead at the break.

Montana State made things interesting coming out of the break, putting together a 10-2 run to capture their first lead of the night, but a 12-0 run for the hosts put the contest out of reach.

MSU shot a mere 35.4 percent from the field on the night, with Rush and Bobby Howard combining to make just 8-of-29 from the floor. The Bruins survived with just 2-of-13 shooting beyond the arc.
__________

UCLA's Tyler Honeycutt suffers injury

By Peter Yoon
ESPNLosAngeles.com
Updated: December 22, 2010, 3:33 AM ET


LOS ANGELES -- UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, sprained his right shoulder Tuesday during the Bruins' 75-59 victory over Montana State, and his status for Thursday's game against UC Irvine is doubtful.

Honeycutt, averaging 15.5 points and 8.4 rebounds heading into Tuesday's game, was going to have an X-ray on Tuesday night and an MRI on Thursday morning on his right AC joint, but coach Ben Howland didn't sound optimistic that he'd be able to play against the Anteaters later Thursday.

"We don't think it's a long-term problem, but his status for Thursday would be doubtful," Howland said.

Honeycutt had nine points and four rebounds when he injured the shoulder with 8:20 left in the game after running into a Montana State player.
________

Montana St. 59, UCLA 75

rivals.com, Yahoo Sports
10 hours, 50 minutes ago


LOS ANGELES (AP)—Malcolm Lee scored 16 points and Reeves Nelson had 15 as UCLA beat Montana State 75-59 on Tuesday night.

Joshua Smith had nine points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Honeycutt added nine points for the Bruins (7-4), who used a 22-4 run to pull away for their fourth win in a row.

UCLA was efficient in shooting 48.1 percent (26 of 54) while turning the ball over just 10 times.

The Bruins saw a 15-point lead disappear and trailed by three points early in the second half before turning up the speed for an array of fast-break baskets.

Erik Rush scored 13 points and Tre Johnson added 12 for Montana State (6-6), which dropped to 0-6 in road games.

The Bobcats opened the second half with a 10-2 spurt to grab their first lead. UCLA later responded with 12 straight points, with six coming from Honeycutt, for the 55-46 advantage.

Click on boxscore to enlarge