Bruins rely on tough Love

UCLA’s first regular-season game began with a dramatic flurry of rousing slam dunks, rebounds grabbed with a bellow and nonchalant three-pointers made with a nod and a thank-you to the passer.

The second-ranked Bruins beat Portland State, 69-48, Friday night at Pauley Pavilion on the strength of an energetic 18-2 start and not on a sluggish 51-46 finish.

Freshman Kevin Love rewarded the 9,854 who came in person to see the 6-foot-10 center in his first game, scoring 22 points and taking 13 rebounds. That was the most rebounds ever by a UCLA freshman in his debut; Charles O’Bannon had 12 in 1993 against Loyola Marymount. Love had double-doubles in both UCLA exhibition games so that’s three in a row.

With point guard Darren Collison dressed in street clothes on the bench, resting a sprained left knee and waiting for a more necessary time to play, Alfred Aboya joined Love and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute inside, with Russell Westbrook and Josh Shipp at the guard spots.

Coach Ben Howland took mostly positives from the game. He was satisfied with Love’s production even while noting: “Kevin got a little winded in the second half and started to cramp up a bit.”

He was pleased that the Vikings had only 52 shots and even more pleased they made only 18 (34.6%).

And he was most happy that Shipp, given the defensive assignment on Portland State’s top returning scorer, held Dupree Lucas scoreless.

“Josh did a very good job defensively,” Howland said. “Lucas is a good player and he had zero points. I’m excited to see Josh take on that challenge.”

Aboya had the Bruins’ first two-point basket, Shipp had the first three, Love had the first rebound and UCLA threw an intimidating mixture of inside-outside at the Vikings, who had four starters 6 feet 6 or shorter. It was 5-foot-6 Jeremiah Dominguez who most baffled the Bruins, scoring a team-high 11 points and causing Shipp to say, “I didn’t see him a couple of times.”

Besides Love, the constant was the controlled dominance of Shipp, the redshirt junior who has had two hip surgeries in the last two years. He scored 18 points, including back-to-back three-pointers after the Vikings had crept to within 13 points with 17:59 left.

Shipp even got some minutes at point guard, an experience he said was eye-opening.

“Man, I didn’t even know the plays at the point spot,” he said. “I was running around, trying to get out of way.”

Shipp said he hadn’t yet practiced at point guard.

“With all the guys injured,” he said, “it’s kind of hard.”

Westbrook, a sophomore who will spend more time at shooting guard once Collison returns, said he was pleased with his 10 points and five assists. He didn’t mention his six turnovers and Howland said Westbrook isn’t totally comfortable running the team. And it was Collison’s absence, Howland said, that accounted for Mbah a Moute’s anemic two points and one rebound.

“Luc is playing [small forward] and that’s much harder when we don’t have Darren,” Howland said. “A lot more ball-handling fell on Josh and Luc tonight.”

Mbah a Moute missed his first five shots before making a backboard-rattling dunk with 4:10 left.

Lorenzo Mata-Real, the team’s only scholarship senior and a starter last season who is adjusting to a new role of coming off the bench, had six points and four rebounds. But he played 20 minutes, a good sign, Howland said, considering that he was trying to make up for practice time he lost because of a sprained foot suffered last month.

It was a rough-and-tumble game, the kind Mata-Real likes, as does Love. The freshman hit the floor at least three times and earned two free throws when Vikings reserve forward J.R. Moore was called for an intentional foul while trying to stop Love from dunking. Love rubbed his upper arm and looked at the bruise that was forming. “I think he thought I was going over the back,” Love said. “But I was going straight up.”

That is the way the Bruins hope the season develops. Straight up.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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UP NEXT FOR UCLA

UCLA vs. Youngstown State, 8 p.m., Monday, ESPN2/570 -- The Penguins are coming off a 14-17 season, their best in seven years, and have beaten a nationally ranked team once (LaSalle in 1952). The team leader is senior point guard Byron Davis, a transfer from New Mexico State two years ago. This is a first-round game in the CBE Classic that finishes in Kansas City on Nov. 19 and 20. Weber State and Cal State San Bernardino play at Pauley Pavilion at 5 p.m. in another first-round game.