UCLA Rolls on Late Run by Murray

It’s Whopper Week in Westwood, where a fast-food restaurant offers free hamburgers to the first 500 fans with ticket stubs from any game in which the UCLA basketball team scores at least 100 points.

With the 10th-ranked Bruins playing host to Fresno State Thursday night and San Diego State Saturday night, a lot of fans figure to forgo pregame munchies and bring their appetites to Pauley Pavilion.

Their faith was rewarded Thursday night as UCLA awakened from a first-half slump to make 61.9% of its shots in the second half and beat Fresno State, 110-89, before 8,667.

“We weren’t into it in the first half, but we had a little chat at halftime and played the way we like to play in the second half,” Coach Jim Harrick said. “We executed and had a real strong half.”

Tracy Murray, in particular, seemed to benefit from Harrick’s halftime speech, making eight of 10 shots after halftime and finishing with a game-high 26 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Murray had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the second half after Harrick kept him on the bench for the last 3:51 of the first half.

Harrick said that his message to Murray was simple: “You’d better (perform) or I’ve got other guys who can play.”

Don MacLean had 22 points, eight rebounds and a personal-best seven assists for the Bruins, who improved to 9-1, and Mitchell Butler scored a career-high 19 points after scoring only 18 in UCLA’s previous three games. Butler, who made nine of 10 shots, also had seven rebounds and five assists.

“I’m glad to see Mitchell step up,” Harrick said.

Fresno State, which fell to 4-4 in losing for the 51st time in its last 60 games outside Fresno, was led by reserve guard Tod Bernard’s 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting.

Guard Wilbert Hooker scored 15 points for the Bulldogs.

Fresno State made 51.3% of its shots in the first half but cooled to 42.9% in the second half as it was blown out by the bigger Bruins, who outrebounded the Bulldogs, 34-12, after halftime.

“I just worried that we might have lost our edge a little bit,” Harrick said of his state of mind when UCLA led by only two points at halftime. “We were pretty sharp in our first eightgames.

“We got it back a little bit in the second half, I think.”

Fresno State Coach Gary Colson, in his first season with the Bulldogs, said before the game that UCLA was for real.

“With (Ed) O’Bannon, they’re in the top three,” Colson said. “Without him, they’re legitimately in the top 10.”

His players obviously must have thought otherwise.

As they filed into Pauley Pavilion hours before the game, several of them shouted, “This place ain’t . . . UCLA ain’t . . . “

Apparently, they meant it.

They immediately put the Bruins into a 9-2 hole. UCLA, which missed its last 11 shots last Saturday in an 88-71 loss at Iowa, missed its first three shots and had a turnover in its first four possessions.

The Bruins eventually caught and passed the Bulldogs, but a 16-5 run by Fresno gave the Bulldogs a 40-35 lead. Gerald Madkins then made two three-point shots during a 9-2 run by UCLA and the Bruins never trailed again.

UCLA’s lead was only 48-46 at halftime, but the Bruins increased it to 82-62 and a tip-in by Keith Owens gave them a 99-77 lead with 3:48 left.

A layup by Butler with 3:31 left put UCLA in triple figures.

That meant burgers all around.

“It’s really fun,” said Herbert Hakimianpour, owner of the restaurant that offers the free meals. “About 30% of our customers are UCLA students, so this is one way I can give thanks to them.”

UCLA has scored at least 100 in four of five home games.

“Offensively, they can just kill you,” Colson said.

And feed you, too.

Bruin Notes

UCLA hopes to tour Italy next summer, playing five or six games in about a two-week span. . . . Mike Lanier, a 7-foot-6 transfer from Hardin-Simmons who is redshirting this season, said that, in an effort to improve his strength, he might throw the discus for the UCLA track team next spring. . . . UCLA is 30-4 at Pauley Pavilion in more than two seasons under Coach Jim Harrick. . . . Walk-on Destah Owens has been cut by the Bruins.

What happened to Chris Henderson, a 6-6 forward and transfer from DePaul who led Fresno State in rebounding as a junior last season and scored a team-high 15 points in a 74-65 loss to UCLA? He quit the team two days before the Bulldogs’ opener. . . . Said Harrick of UCLA’s state of mind before its loss to Iowa last week: “I thought maybe we were breaking our arms from patting ourselves on the back. We enjoyed our lofty position.”

UCLA made 55.8% of its shots and has made at least 54.3% in each of its five games at Pauley Pavilion. . . . The Bruins have failed to score at least 100 points in only one of their home games, reaching 99 in an eight-point victory over Notre Dame. . . . UCLA made seven of 16 three-point shots.