Practice Pays Off as Bruins Wake Up : College basketball: They beat San Diego, 90-63, after a 6 a.m. practice on Monday. Tarver has 21 points, Petruska 13.

Dissatisfied after UCLA played poorly in a 69-60 victory over Santa Clara last week, Bruin Coach Jim Harrick scheduled several additional practices, including a 6 a.m. workout Monday.

“The coaches thought we weren’t putting in the effort,” UCLA freshman guard Kevin Dempsey said. “You could tell by timeouts (during games) when we weren’t running over (to the bench). Coach Harrick wasn’t at practice last week because he was out recruiting and the assistant coaches cracked the whip. I’ve never run so much in all my life as I did last week.”

The extra work paid off as the No. 13 Bruins beat San Diego, 90-63, before 5,326 at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

The Bruins were supposed to be off Monday and Tuesday to allow them extra time to study for final exams, but they practiced anyway.

“We practiced very hard last week, probably harder than any other week . . . and then with finals, too, I got about 10 hours of sleep. It was just fun to play a game,” said Dempsey, who made four of five three-point shots and scored 14 points in a reserve role. “We’ve never practiced so hard as we did last week, and we were just a pack of wolves out there today.”

Guard Shon Tarver scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Bruins (5-1), who had six players in double figures. Center Richard Petruska had 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots, while forward Ed O’Bannon and guard Mitchell Butler each had 12 points. Guard Tyus Edney added 10 points and eight assists.

O’Bannon thought the extra practice sharpened the Bruins.

“We were supposed to have a couple of days off and some guys were pretty upset because of the finals, but we came out anyway and did what we had to do,” O’Bannon said. “Our intensity last week was pretty poor, and now we see what we can do.”

Tarver agreed: “I knew we’d practice, I just didn’t know how early we’d practice. But evidently, it had a good effect, because it caused us to be focused. We really hadn’t put together two strong halves until today.”

The Bruins, who made only 28.6% of their three-point shots in their first five games, sank 10 of 18 (55.6%) three-point shots against San Diego. Dempsey missed only one three-point attempt, while Tarver made two of three three-point shots and Butler and Edney each made two of four three-pointers.

“I was impressed by the way (Dempsey) was shooting the ball,” Harrick said. “He has shown he can shoot the ball in practice, and tonight he showed it in a game.

“That might be a few too many three-point shots for this team, but if they make 10, I won’t say much. But we’ve got to be very cautious (taking three-pointers).”

Dempsey said he was hesitant to take three-point shots earlier this season.

“Before, I wasn’t looking for my shot,” Dempsey said. “I was looking to not make any mistakes. But the coaches told me to look for my shot a little bit more today.”

UCLA’s defense forced San Diego into 27 turnovers and the Bruins held the Toreros to 38.5% from the field during the second half.

“Defensively, it was the best game we’ve played so far,” Harrick said. “We took them out of what they like to do. That was the kind of ball our team is capable of playing. It’s as consistent as we’ve played all year.”

San Diego (2-2) was out of sync after 6-9 center Brooks Barnhard suffered a back injury when he took a charge from Butler 1:18 into the game. Barnhard, who had surgery for a herniated disk two years ago, sat out the rest of the game after complaining of numbness in his legs.

Bruin Notes

Forward Mitchell Butler, who missed seven of nine shots against Santa Clara while playing despite a severely sprained left wrist, appeared fully recovered, making five of 10 shots. . . . UCLA is off until next Saturday, when the Bruins will play Georgia in Atlanta.