ONTARIO ““ The UCLA men’s basketball team kept a pesky Cal State San Bernardino at bay long enough to pull out a 80-72 exhibition win Saturday at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
The Coyotes, playing an away game not far from their campus, came back from a six-point halftime deficit to take a two-point lead with 7:33 to play, but a handful of mistakes doomed them down the stretch.
When the No. 17 Bruins were faced with the deficit, coach Ben Howland turned to sophomore center Joshua Smith. The big man cleared out space inside Cal State Bernardino’s zone defense and touched the ball almost every possession, making all but a pair of free throws down the stretch and allowing the Bruins to maintain the lead.
Smith finished with a team-high 26 points, going 6-for-12 from the field and making 14-of-18 free throws. Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson had a double-double with 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.