It was not quite the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the Oklahoma City Comets on Saturday, but it was the lopsided matchup the Bruins seemed to need amid their two-game skid.

Though the Bruins have struggled lately, dropping three of their past six games, the Terrapins entered Westwood on much worse terms – boasting the Big Ten’s third-worst offense and worst defense.

With former Bruin and Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts in attendance, UCLA men’s basketball (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) recorded its first conference win since Dec. 6, defeating Maryland (7-9, 0-5) 67-55 at Pauley Pavilion – despite getting outrebounded 48-29 and playing without injured players senior guard Skyy Clark and redshirt sophomore guard/forward Brandon Williams.

“Obviously, we need rebounding drills,” said coach Mick Cronin. “But we can’t practice because they’re too many guys hurt. … If we could rebound, we’d win by 30. They wouldn’t have gotten to 40.”

After eight lead changes through the first 12 minutes, UCLA pulled away with a 15-0 run – with junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr.’s dunk serving as the exclamation point.

Dailey, who finished the night with 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting, said Friday that the Bruins would never finish 1-for-17 on 3-point attempts again, as they did Tuesday against the Badgers.

Saturday, UCLA finished 5-for-17 with Dailey’s first half make breaking his 0-for-17 streak that dated back to Dec. 6 against Oregon. 

“Just give credit to everybody’s growth,” Dailey said. “Everybody’s learning. We’ve got a lot of new guys, and it’s hard sometimes.” 

Sophomore guard Trent Perry, starting in place of Clark for the second-straight game after the latter sustained a hamstring injury Jan. 3, recorded 16 points – his fourth double-digit showing in his last five games and eighth such performance of the season. 

“Last year was a little bit of a growing pain for me,” Perry said. “Eric, he’s like my big brother. … We talk a lot. He is always telling me, ‘Freshman year is the hardest year of your college career,’ and so this year, I already went through it. Might as well just get back to my original self, stay confident.”

After shooting 6-for-12 through the affair’s first 13 minutes, Maryland shot just 3-for-18 across the rest of the half – allowing UCLA to enter the break up 38-21.

And despite ultimately winning the rebound battle 19, the Terrapins never strung together more than five straight points – though their third 5-0 run moved them within 56-51 with 6:18 remaining. 

“We got outrebounded throughout the entire game,” Perry said. “But at the end of the day, we (are) still locked in. We held a team to 55 points – that’s amazing.”

Maryland finished with just two players in double digits – forward Elijah Saunders, who recorded 17 points and 12 rebounds, but picked up his third foul with 15:09 remaining in the second half and fourth with 9:23 left and guard Darius Adams, who had 13 points. 

Steven Jamerson II made the most of his 23 minutes on the floor – his most of the season. The redshirt senior forward/center put up a season-high eight points on 3-for-3 shooting with three assists and five rebounds.

“When we had the lineup with Eric at the four and Jamerson at the five, we went from maybe down two to up 17, ” Cronin said, alluding to the duo’s rebounding ability. “Steve’s best game as a Bruin by far.”

Once, Jamerson, falling out of bounds across the baseline, managed to find a wide-open Perry, who converted with a made 3-pointer. Another time, Jamerson successfully spun past a defender while driving to the basket for a layup.

“I was trying to find the open man,” Jamerson said. “Trent was right there, on that strong side, so I was able to throw it right to him – try to do my best to mimic Dennis Rodman.”

After turning the ball over 10-plus times in three-straight contests, the Bruins had just six turnovers Saturday – all while inducing 13 Terrapin turnovers. 

The most notable blips on the Bruins’ win may have been senior guard Donovan Dent’s and senior forward Tyler Bilodeau’s offensive showings.

While Dent dished out seven assists, his eight points were just his second single-digit performance in nine games since Nov. 25 and his 3-for-10 shooting meant his fourth-worst field-goal percentage of the season.

Bilodeau, the Bruins’ leading scorer, was held to 10 points and 0-for-2 from beyond the arc while recording his second-consecutive four-foul game – his fifth showing with four or more fouls this season – and no rebounds despite his 6-foot-9 stature. 

“It was a bad night for him,” Cronin said. “He’s got a lot in common with me today – same amount of rebounds.” 

Still, the positives ultimately won out. 

The Bruins’ 14 personal fouls were their fewest since Nov. 14. Junior center Xavier Booker played 16 minutes, his most since Dec. 13, recording five points on 2-for-5 shooting. UCLA held Maryland to its second lowest field goal percentage and worst 3-point percentage of the season at 30.3% and 18.2%, respectively. 

As for Dent, Cronin said he was most pleased with his point guard’s zero turnovers.

“He was a walking turnover,” Cronin said of the guard’s playmaking ability when he arrived in Westwood.

Though the Bruins are far from their World Series – the program’s first NCAA title since 1995 – and the Terrapins will likely not even make the playoffs – March Madness – the worries of the past week have been quelled, somewhat.

UCLA can, in fact, still win a game.