It took five halves of uninspired play this season, but the UCLA Bruins finally put together a solid half of basketball on Monday night, pulling away from the Chaminade Silverswords 92-60 in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational Tournament at Lahaina Civic Center in Hawaii. The Bruins led by just two over Division II Chaminade at halftime, but outscored the Silverswords 52-22 in the final 20 minutes.
Lazeric Jones lead UCLA with 19 points and seven assists, and also pulled down six rebounds. Center Joshua Smith scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 22 minutes of work, making five of his six field goal attempts. The Bruins shot 57.6% (19 for 33) in the second half, including making six of 11 shots from three-point range.
Junior guard Reeves Nelson was suspended for the first half of the game against Chaminade for missing the team bus and team flight to Hawaii. He played 11 minutes in the second half, scoring one point and pulling down five rebounds.
Chaminade made just six of 30 shots (20.0%) in the second half, including just one of 11 three-point attempts (9.1%). For the game, the Silverswords made just 17 of 57 field goal attempts (29.8%). UCLA outrebounded Chaminade 49-23.
UCLA plays the winner of Kansas vs. Georgetown in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. PST on ESPN.
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