UCLA hangs on to beat Arizona State in overtime, 73-72

Bruins guard Tyler Lamb looks to make a pass against the Sun Devils and guard Jamelle McMillan on Saturday afternoon. (Jennifer Stewart / US Presswire / January 29, 2011)

UCLA hangs on to beat Arizona State in overtime, 73-72

Bruins squander a 15-point lead in the second half. Lazeric Jones scores 18 points and Reeves Nelson has 15 points and 12 rebounds.

By Ben Bolch
The Los Angelinos Times
7:20 PM PST, January 29, 2011

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz.



Two halves still don't make a whole lot of sense for UCLA.

At the midpoint of Pacific 10 Conference play, the Bruins continue to play superbly for 20 minutes only to unravel after halftime.

They lost all of a 17-point lead against Oregon State and a 15-point lead against California before hitting a new second-half low Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.

UCLA squandered a 15-point lead against Arizona State, which had lost seven of its first eight conference games, before pulling out a 73-72 victory in overtime thanks to a barrage of three-point baskets.

Lazeric Jones, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson each made a three-pointer on UCLA's first three possessions in overtime to build a seven-point lead. The Bruins (14-7, 6-3 Pac-10) held on to match their victory total from last season with at least 11 games remaining.

It was a big bounce-back effort for Jones, who finished with 18 points on seven-for-nine shooting after being scoreless and missing his seven shots against Arizona on Thursday. UCLA sophomore forward Reeves Nelson chipped in with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Still, Coach Ben Howland might have earned an honorary degree in public relations after the game, calling it "a great win" even though the Bruins allowed the Sun Devils (9-12, 1-8) to shoot 57.1% in the second half after holding them to 20% in the first.

Asked whether that assessment was a bit excessive, Howland said, "Absolutely, it's a great win. Absolutely, 100%. … Every win you get in the Pac-10 is a great win, trust me."

Forward Tyler Honeycutt, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds despite experiencing flu-like symptoms, said that part of the Bruins' inability to put away opponents stems from "just underestimating them."

"Coming out," Honeycutt said, "you know we do good in the first half, we take it for granted and we don't come out in the second half and play as hard. It's another game we've got to learn from and just get better."

Should UCLA still be having these types of learning experiences this deep into the season?

"Yeah," Honeycutt said, "you're going to learn new stuff every game as the season goes on."

The Bruins discovered that when they don't block out on free throws, bad things happen. They twice failed to keep Trent Lockett from rebounding missed free throws in the final two minutes of regulation, leading to a three-pointer by Ty Abbott and a tip-in by Lockett that tied the score, 61-61, with 20 seconds left.

UCLA had two chances to win before overtime, but Jones missed a three-point shot and Honeycutt missed a short running jumper at the buzzer.

Howland used a small, three-guard lineup for much of the game, with Anderson making his first start this season. The Sun Devils seemed flustered in the early going, particularly once Abbott, their leading scorer, picked up his third foul and went to the bench midway through the first half.

Arizona State also had trouble defending center Joshua Smith, who threw down a ferocious one-handed dunk midway through the second half to give the Bruins a 10-point lead. But Howland removed Smith after the big man did not get back on defense, leading to a three-pointer by Jamelle McMillan.

"He thought he got fouled on that one play and he's not hustling back," Howland said. "They hit a three because we're playing five on four, and that just can't happen."

Smith did not play the last 6 minutes 18 seconds of regulation or in overtime.

The Bruins said the victory mattered more than the second-half collapse. Just like in their shaky victories over Oregon State and California, disaster was averted.

"That's all that matters, the win," Nelson said.

Said Howland: "When you come out of a game like this with a win, everything is good."

________________


UCLA pulls out OT win against Arizona State

Published: Jan. 29, 2011
Updated: 9:04 p.m.
By SCOTT M. REID
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


TEMPE, Ariz. - Style points are not awarded in the Pac-10 race, which might explain why UCLA coach Ben Howland late Saturday afternoon preferred not to conduct an in-depth examination as to why the Bruins continue nearly blow blowouts.

UCLA, wasting a 15-point second half lead, needed overtime to edge last-place Arizona State, 73-72, at Wells Fargo Arena, allowing the Bruins to barely sneak out of the desert this weekend with a vital two-game split.

“An absolutely great win, absolutely,” Howland said. “Every win the Pac-10 is a great win. I just want to be positive, I look at the positive.”

Saturday’s victory, however nerve-racking, put the Bruins at 14-7 overall, 6-3 in conference play at the halfway point of a Pac-10 regular season so far marked by UCLA’s inability to put two solid halves together and the Bruins’ short attention span.

“A learning experience,” Bruins forward Tyler Honeycutt said.

But the Bruins don’t seem to be learning their lesson.

Lazeric Jones pumped in a game-high 18 points, and forwards Reeves Nelson (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Tyler Honeycutt (12 points, 10 boards) added double-doubles in a UCLA triumph that followed the same storyline of other Bruins near disasters against UC Irvine, Oregon State and Cal, plus a home loss to Montana.

UCLA held Arizona State to just 19 first-half points but found itself headed into overtime after allowing the Sun Devils to shoot 57.1 percent from the field, 6 for 7 from behind the 3-point arc, in the second half.

“Had we lost it, it really would have been a tough thing to swallow,” Howland said, “because we were stubbing our toe.”

But Howland wouldn’t dwell on the near stumble.

“It’s all good,” he said. “We won the game and that’s the name of the game.”

______________


Howland: UCLA's victory over Arizona State 'great'
By Jon Gold Staff Writer
The Los Angelinos Daily News
Posted: 01/29/2011 10:25:24 PM PST


TEMPE, Ariz. - UCLA head coach Ben Howland called it a great win, and his players followed suit, with everything hunky-dory in the Bruins' locker room.

This, after UCLA once held a 15-point lead but needed overtime to defeat a downtrodden Arizona State squad, just 1-8 in Pac-10 play and 9-12 overall.

Great sure means something different for these Bruins.

UCLA eked out a 73-72 overtime win on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena and moved to 6-3 in Pac-10 games (14-7 overall) despite letting the Sun Devils catch fire in the second half.

"Absolutely it's a great win," Howland said. "Absolutely.

"One hundred percent. Every win is great. Every win is hard-fought. Every win you get in the Pac-10 is a great win. Trust me."

UCLA opened with a small lineup to counter Arizona State's, and it paid off early and late.

The trio of point guards Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson and shooting guard Malcolm Lee sparked the Bruins to a 13-point halftime lead.

The Bruins' backcourt blossomed once more in overtime, with the three junior guards each hitting 3-pointers that kept Arizona State at bay.

"Coming out of regulation, we just said it's a new game," Jones said. "Let everything go that happened in the first two halves, come out and play hard. Try to come in and play like it's the first half of the game."

Jones' 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring gave UCLA a 64-61 lead to open the overtime period and provided the cushion the Bruins needed. Coming off a season-worst, 0-for-7 performance in UCLA's 85-74 loss at Arizona on Thursday, Jones was clutch throughout Saturday's game with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists.
"Really, I was just trying to come out and play my game today," Jones said. "I felt like last game, I was a little sped up. I didn't play my game, the game the coaching staff knows I can play.

"I wanted to come out calm and relaxed."

And that's how UCLA came out of the game. Opening the game was another matter, with the Bruins committing 10 turnovers in just over 10 minutes.

If the Sun Devils could have hit their easiest attempts, perhaps the Bruins would not have had such a big lead.

UCLA held Arizona State to 20 percent shooting in the first half while taking a 32-19 lead, with the Sun Devils making just 6 of 30 attempts from the floor and going 0 of 5 on 3-pointers. It was Arizona State's worst scoring half of the season.

With leading scorer Ty Abbott on the bench for most of the first half with three fouls, the Sun Devils broke down on the perimeter and failed to hit from behind the arc in a half for the first time this season.

Arizona State kept the game within reach, though, and finally made a big push with just more than eight minutes left and the Bruins leading by 10. The Sun Devils shot 57.1 percent, made 6 of 7 3-pointers and held the Bruins to 0 of 8 from behind the arc in the second half.

"We're not going to hold a team like that to 20 percent for the whole game," Howland said. "They did a much better job, got some open looks in the second half, ended up shooting 57 percent.

"They really hurt us in transition, and part of it is we probably got a little tired."

Howland stuck with the small lineup late and kept freshman center Joshua Smith on the bench for the duration of overtime. Sophomore forwards Reeves Nelson (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Tyler Honeycutt (12 points, 10 boards) manned the post for the Bruins, who led the rebounding battle by 10 at one point but finished with a 42-38 margin.

It did not help Smith's cause that after he got caught complaining to referees after a no-call on the offensive end, McMillan got a quick 3-pointer for Arizona State that cut UCLA's lead to 49-44.

"I just felt like the guys who were in there were better for us defensively," Howland said. "He (Smith) thought he got fouled on that one play, and he's not hustling back and they hit a three because we're playing five on four.

"That just can't happen."


Click on boxscore to enlarge (from Yahoo Sports)