The 11-5 UCLA Bruins made their first-ever trip to the Bryce Jordan Center to take on the 9-7 Penn State men’s basketball team and the Bruins left with their first victory in State College, beating the Nittany Lions 71-60.
Penn State was playing a tight man-to-man defense and UCLA was in a 3-2 zone.
The Nittany Lions were looking sharp out of the gate and the Bruins were looking a little sluggish.
At the first media timeout (15:56) it was PSU 6 UCLA 2. Ivan Juric had Penn State’s four of the six points.
UCLA then took the lead, 7-6, after Eric Freeny drilled a three at the (14:41) mark of the first half.
Penn State was breaking the Bruins’ 2-2-1 full-court press with ease and brought their deficit to one after Penn State’s, Eli Rice’s, knocked in a jump shot from 15 feet. (11:37).
After the Bruins scored on an offensive rebound on their next possession, Rice came down the court and knocked in shot from downtown to tie the score 13-13 (10:49).
Rice was taking over. Another jump shot from the guard put the Nittany Lions back in front 15-13 (10:20).
The Bruins kept grinding as well and at the (7:35) mark the score was all knotted at 17.
UCLA’s, Trent Perry, had six points for the Bruins and Penn State’s, Rice, was leading all scorers with seven.
Even though the Bruins were outrebounding the Nittany Lions 14-8, Penn State was up 21-19 with (4:52) left in the first half.
After Penn State’s Freddie Dilione went down with an injury, Penn State was trying to find their rhythm again. UCLA took advantage and after Tyler Bilodeau made a triple with (3:59) left in period 1, the Bruins were up 24-21.
UCLA continued their run and the Nittany Lions looked frazzled with the absence of their two leading scorers Kayden Mingo and Dilione.
The score at the half was UCLA 29 PSU 23.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.To start the second half, Penn State’s Melih Tunca knocked in a triple to cut the lead to three, 29-26.
At the first media timeout of the second half, both teams were battling with the score UCLA 38 PSU 35.
UCLA’s, Trent Perry, was heating up and had a quick six points to start the second half going 2-of-2 from three-point range.
So was the Bruins,’ Bilodeau, who scored eight points to start the second half.
Even with Dilione out of the game, Penn State was not going away. After Dominick Stewart’s and-1 three-point play, the score was UCLA 47 PSU 46 (12:12).
The Nittany Lions were starting to find their rhythm again and they retook the lead 49-47 after Stewart nailed a triple (11:46).
At the second media timeout of the second half (10:30), it was only a one-point game, UCLA 50 PSU 49.
UCLA’s Perry and Bilodeau, though, continued their onslaught. After both Bruins knocked in back-to-back triples, the score was quickly UCLA 58 PSU 50 (7:51).
With (6:04) left in the game, it was UCLA up on Penn State 60-52, and the Nittany Lions were starting to run out of firepower.
At the (3:54) media timeout, the Bruins seemed to be in control with the score 63-52.
The Nittany Lions kept clawing, but only shooting 19% from three-point range and being outrebounded 31-18 was not going to cut it.
Final Score: UCLA 71 PSU 60
