Bruins Stay Inside, Come Out Winners : College basketball: Arizona State makes 13 three-point baskets, but UCLA shoots 63.8% to win, 89-85.

UCLA withstood the long-range shooting of Arizona State and finally wore down the Sun Devils to win, 89-85, Saturday before 7,192 at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins never trailed after putting together an 8-0 run to open a 76-68 lead with 7:07 to play, but Arizona State, which made 13 three-point shots to none for UCLA, kept it close.

“We expended so much effort coming back on them that every time we put ourselves in position to get the lead, we just couldn’t make the big play,” Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder said.

Frieder, forced to improvise after losing seven players since the end of last season, has come up with a gambling style in which the Sun Devils shoot from seemingly anywhere on the court, at any time, while forcing the tempo by gambling at the other end.

They attempted 34 three-point shots against UCLA, which attempted only three and didn’t help its cause by making 18 first-half turnovers.

But Frieder said Arizona State, which attempted 84 shots in all, making only 39.3%, finally spent itself late in the game.

UCLA made a season-high 63.8% of its 58 shots while improving to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Arizona State is 6-3 and 0-2.

“You have to give credit to UCLA for part of it,” Frieder said of his team’s fatigue. “They might let up a little when they get ahead of you, but, boy, when you come on them, they really go to work.

“Their defense gets better, their inside play gets better, their pressure gets better and their rebounding gets better.”

It didn’t hurt that UCLA was up against a team that was picked to finish last in the Pac-10 in a preseason media poll.

Arizona State, with no starter taller than 6-foot-6 Lester Neal and no regular taller than 6-9 James Bacon, had no answer for the inside play of the Bruins’ 6-8 Ed O’Bannon and 6-10 Richard Petruska.

O’Bannon, who scored a career-high 29 points during Thursday night’s 82-80 loss to Arizona, scored 24 points and took a team-high 11 rebounds against the Sun Devils, making 11 of 19 shots.

Petruska, ineffective against Arizona, had 20 points and nine rebounds against the much-smaller Sun Devils, making 10 of 13 shots. He scored six consecutive points--on a layup, a hook and a baseline jumper--during the 8-0 spurt that put UCLA ahead to stay midway through the second half.

“What we’ve got is a team that’s going to compete and play hard and be competitive,” Frieder said. “But we can’t go inside to make big plays, like (the Bruins) can with O’Bannon and Petruska.”

The Sun Devils get their points from the perimeter.

Guard Stevin Smith led Arizona State with 27 points, making seven of 17 three-point attempts, six of 11 in the second half.

Forward Ron Riley scored 20, making four of 10 threes.

“I thought we settled down the second half and played a little bit better than we did the first,” said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, who described the Bruins’ first-half play as “pathetic.” “But they were just shooting it. Boy, oh, boy, were they shooting it.”

Bruin Notes

The victory was UCLA’s 400th in Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins have lost 44 times since the building opened for the 1965-66 season. . . . UCLA has won its last eight games against Arizona State. . . . Arizona State, outrebounded by USC, 55-29, during an 87-79 loss Thursday night, was outrebounded by UCLA, 43-37.

UCLA has made at least 50% of its shots in each of its last six games after doing so only twice in its first seven. . . . UCLA guard Shon Tarver has made one of his last 11 three-point attempts. . . . Point guard Tyus Edney, who scored 13 points and had six assists in 38 minutes, has not played less than 38 minutes in any of UCLA’s last seven games. . . . Arizona State’s Dwayne Fontana, whose average of 22.2 points was the best in the Pac-10, scored only 11 points, making five of 14 shots.