UCLA Needs Late Rally to Beat Perth

The UCLA Bruins played like anything but the No. 6 team in the nation Thursday night, needing a late second-half rally to defeat Perth, Australia, 81-72, at Pauley Pavilion in their first exhibition game of the season.

Perth, which lost to Pacific on Wednesday night, led at halftime, 38-36, and still held a two-point advantage halfway through the second half before UCLA pulled away behind the scoring of Ed O’Bannon, who finished with a game-high 22 points, and Charles O’Bannon, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half.

“We came out in the first seven to eight minutes and played very well and then we started subbing,” said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick. “We tried to play everybody, but when you do that you lose some continuity.”

The Bruins, who have four starters back from last season along with four highly touted freshman, struggled offensively, making 17 turnovers and shooting 44.3% from the field.

A bright spot for UCLA was the play off the bench of freshmen J.R. Henderson, who scored 11 points, and Kris Johnson and Toby Bailey, who each scored 10.

Perth was led by former Stanford standout Andrew Vlahov, who scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

The game was delayed because of two smoke bombs on the UCLA campus. Neither was in Pauley Pavilion.