The UCLA men’s basketball didn’t start so well Tuesday night, but it sure knew how to finish.
Led by senior forward Nikola Dragovic’s 14 second-half points, the Bruins overcame a sloppy start with a frantic finish to defeat Colorado State 75-63 at Pauley Pavilion.
Facing a game-high eight-point deficit midway through the second half, the Bruins closed on an impressive 29-9 run to escape with the victory.
“I’m just glad we showed the poise to be down by eight and not give in to it,” coach Ben Howland said.
All five starters scored in double figures for UCLA (4-7), which was coming off an 11-point loss at Notre Dame last Saturday.
Dragovic, the Bruins’ lone returning starter, led the way with a season-high 17 points ““ 14 of which came after halftime. His biggest shot came at the 9:37 mark in the second half, when he nailed a wide open 3-pointer that pulled UCLA to within two points and brought the 6,755 in attendance to their feet.
“It might be the first time where we actually fought back after being down,” Dragovic said. “This team grew up a little bit.”
Dragovic made five of his eight shot attempts a day after pleading not guilty to a felony charge stemming from a Hollywood nightclub incident.
“I didn’t let it get to me,” Dragovic said. “I just kept working out hard. It’s coming back right now.”
Sophomore guard Malcolm Lee had 16 and freshman forward Reeves Nelson added 15, while sophomore guard Jerime Anderson overcame five turnovers to post a career-best seven assists.
UCLA’s strong finish was bogged down by perhaps its sloppiest half of the season.
The Bruins committed 12 of their 19 turnovers in the first half ““ a majority of them coming on mishandled passes and bad decisions in transition.
“We had a lot of careless mistakes,” Lee said. “We should have had more patience with the ball.”
Anderson and Lee combined for seven giveaways in the first half alone ““ something that prevented the Bruins from maintaining an offensive rhythm.
“They’re the two guys that have to learn to stop at the foul line, slow down and not always be going 1,000 miles per hour,” Howland said regarding Anderson and Lee.
The Bruins didn’t look any better to start the second half, with both Anderson and Lee turning the ball over on consecutive possessions to help the Rams go on a 12-6 run and a 46-40 lead.
“We thought we had opportunities that weren’t really there,” said Lee, who, despite his game-high six turnovers, managed to set a career high with six assists.
Aside from the excess turnovers, UCLA was plagued by its inability to grab defensive boards. Colorado State had seven of its eight offensive rebounds in the second half and capitalized with nine second-chance points.
“Our guys get tired,” Howland said. “When we got a little worn down there, (the Rams) were getting some second shots that were really tough for us.”
UCLA eventually pulled even before Colorado State (8-4) bounced back with an 8-0 run to stretch its lead to 54-46 with about 12 minutes remaining.
That’s when the Bruins responded.
UCLA went on a 14-5 run in the next 5:24 to take the lead for good. Senior guard Michael Roll, who was battling a stomach virus and foul trouble for much of the game, sank a 3-pointer from the corner to hand the Bruins a five-point advantage. UCLA then reeled off nine consecutive points before Colorado State ended its nearly five-minute drought with a bucket to cap the night’s scoring.
The Bruins can finally point to a positive ““ winning two of their last three games.
“It would have been a really, really miserable Christmas to come off a loss,” Howland said.