UCLA leads 40-36 after trading blows with Arizona in fast-paced opening half
By Daily Bruin
March 2, 2013 7:10 p.m.
In front of a sold-out Pauley Pavilion crowd, the UCLA men’s basketball team leads Arizona at the half, 40-36.
Riding effective transition play in the first half, the Bruins delivered several plays worthy of the highlight reel, including an alley-oop from redshirt junior forward David to Travis Wear and a monstrous slam dunk by sophomore guard Norman Powell to cap off a 4-0 UCLA run following coach Ben Howland’s first timeout.
Still, UCLA was unable to further extend its lead in the closing minutes of the half because of poor rebounding, a facet of the game that has been troublesome for the Bruins all season. UCLA was out-rebounded 20-14 in the first half.
Freshman guard Kyle Anderson leads all scorers with 15 points heading into the tunnels, followed by Arizona senior guard Mark Lyons, who scored 11 in the first half.
Freshman guard/forward Shabazz Muhammad, on the other hand, struggled with foul trouble early, playing only nine minutes and scoring 5 points, all in the first 5 minutes of the game. He and redshirt junior forward Travis Wear both enter the second half with 2 fouls.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.
