Different Bruins Still Win : College basketball: UCLA takes 22-point halftime lead, then seems to lose interest before beating Long Beach, 68-57.

It didn’t take long for UCLA Coach Jim Harrick to realize that his team wouldn’t be able to maintain the same type of intensity that enabled the Bruins to overwhelm Indiana in their opener two weeks ago.

The Bruins took a 25-point lead in their home opener against Cal State Long Beach Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, then seemed to lose interest, saw their lead dwindle to eight points and finally settled for a 68-57 victory.

It was hardly a tour de force for a fourth-ranked team.

“We really didn’t play well in the first half,” Harrick said, aware that the Bruins’ lead at halftime was 22 points. “I thought our defense keyed some breaks and got us a nice lead.

“And the second half, we played . . . different. We were probably a little more complacent and not competing as well as I’d like. We played well enough to win, but that’s certainly not good enough. We played hard. We just didn’t play well. We were a little stagnant.”

Had they grown bored?

“I don’t want to say that,” Harrick said. “I want to say that (Long Beach) just came out and outplayed us in the second half. They hustled. They regrouped at halftime. I’m sure he (Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg) asked them to dig down, and they certainly did.

“We just didn’t finish it like you’d like to.”

Long Beach, after making only 23.1% of its shots during the first half, made 53.8% in the second and kept it interesting.

“We came out kind of stale,” UCLA reserve forward Mitchell Butler said. “I looked out and we weren’t in our defensive stance. The intensity was real low. It looked like we were real lax out there.

“Down the stretch, though, we came alive a little bit and I think guys were a little looser and were able to knock down some shots.”

The 49ers, after closing to 54-46, were finally subdued.

Don MacLean, frigid to that point, scored eight consecutive points for the Bruins to start a clinching 11-3 run.

MacLean finished with 11 points, equaling his lowest output since his sophomore season two years ago, and said that he was disappointed in himself because he “wasn’t into the game.”

He made three of 14 shots.

Tracy Murray led UCLA with 24 points, making seven of 11 shots, and was the only other Bruin to score in double figures.

Lucious Harris scored 23 points to lead Long Beach, which made only 38.5% of its shots despite its strong second half.

Long Beach, which made 41.8% of its shots last season, shot only 31.3% in a 72-49 loss to North Carolina Charlotte on Monday night at Charlotte. But that was at the end of a rough trip, after taking a transcontinental red-eye flight two nights before the game.

“It wasn’t the easiest of circumstances to play in, and we didn’t execute as well as I would have liked,” Greenberg said.

He expected a better performance against theBruins.

And, 6 1/2 minutes into the game, the 49ers led, 14-10. But UCLA then went on a 25-2 run to take control.

At one point in the midst of it, the Bruins surrounded 49er center Chris Tower at midcourt. They deflected his pass, leading to a dunk by Murray and an act of frustration by Tower, who angrily hurled the ball toward official Willis McJunkin after the 49ers called for a timeout.

Greenberg said something, and was assessed a technical foul.

Murray made two free throws and the Bruins, retaining possession, then got a three-point basket from freshman guard Tyus Edney, who moments later made a steal and passed to Murray for another dunk.

UCLA’s lead was 32-16.

At halftime, it was 42-20 and Long Beach was shooting 23.1%, but the 49ers weren’t about to give up. After falling behind by 25 points early in the second half, they put together a 24-7 run to pull to 54-46.

That was as close as they got.

Bruin Notes

Coach Jim Harrick said that freshman guard Tyus Edney is among the quickest players he has coached. In UCLA’s 87-72 victory over Indiana, Harrick said, “He was on the baseline once, stole the ball and beat (nine) guys down the floor. That’s hard to do when you’re dribbling.” . . . A review of the Indiana game showed that Tracy Murray was mistakenly credited with two free throws that were made by Don MacLean. The adjusted box score shows MacLean with 20 points, Murray 19.

Ed O’Bannon said that he expects to resume practicing with the Bruins by the middle of this month. . . . Ike Nwankwo of Cypress Creek High in Houston, who has signed a letter of intent to play at UCLA, was listed among the nation’s top 25 high school players by USA Today.

* USC: Yamen Sanders scores 19 points and takes 13 rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 107-94 victory over Cal State Sacramento at the Sports Arena. C9