Bruins avoid getting sunk

This was supposed to be about two Shipps, passing in the night.

Instead, the warm-and-fuzzy story about brothers Josh and Jerren Shipp turned into a stressful night for No. 3 UCLA, which fell behind lowly Arizona State by 11 points -- the Bruins’ largest deficit of the season -- before coming back for a 60-50 victory Thursday night in front of 10,188 at Pauley Pavilion.

Before tipoff, Debbie Shipp was standing near the baseline, a proud mom wearing a cap with ASU and UCLA on the front, with Bruins forward Josh Shipp’s No. 3 on one side and Sun Devils forward Jerren Shipp’s No. 44 on the other.

The giddy family mood turned tense shortly after that, when Arizona State -- which entered the game 6-11 and 0-6 in the Pacific 10 Conference -- jumped to a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game.

Even so, Josh Shipp didn’t appreciate it when UCLA students chanted that he was the better player.

“It was a little harsh,” Josh said with a smile. “He’s my little brother.”

For a while, the Bruins had bigger trouble than a brotherly battle.

“It was disappointing we let a team come out and jump on us like that,” UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said. “We have to do a much better job of being ready to play, because any opponent from this point on, we probably won’t come back.”

Five days after coming back from 10 points down to beat USC, UCLA did it again.

The Bruins (16-1, 5-1) survived by battening down their defense in the second half, holding Arizona State to 13 points and 28.6% shooting after allowing them to shoot 58.3% in the first half.

They also got big plays by point guard Darren Collison, and a boost off the bench from freshman Russell Westbrook, who gave the Bruins their first lead since the opening minutes when he made an 18-foot jumper for a 41-39 lead with 13:16 left.

The penetration of Collison and Westbrook helped UCLA make inroads against Arizona State’s zone defense, only the latest to befuddle the Bruins.

“Against zones, we tend to struggle,” Afflalo said, faulting himself for not penetrating more.

After trailing, 17-6, UCLA came back to tie the score during the first half, but still went in at halftime down, 37-34.

Even though the Bruins were better in the second half, it wasn’t until Collison’s four-point play after he was fouled on a made three-pointer with 8:37 left that UCLA had any real breathing room, taking a 48-41 lead.

Less than a minute later, a steal by Alfred Aboya and a breakaway layup by Collison made the UCLA lead nine.

Down the stretch, Collison converted a three-point play after being fouled on a layup with 2:24 left to keep UCLA’s lead safe.

Collison finished with 16 points, and Afflalo contributed 13. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was held to two, but he had a career-high 14 rebounds. And Josh Shipp had 12 points in his return to the starting lineup after sitting out the USC game because of a right hamstring injury.

“On that reverse dunk, I think he wanted to show everybody he was OK,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

Jerren Shipp, a freshman who played at Fairfax High -- as did Josh and their older brother Joe, a former California standout -- came off the bench and scored eight points for the Sun Devils, who were led by Christian Polk’s 16 points

The Sun Devils are in their first season under Coach Herb Sendek, who left North Carolina State, where he had taken the Wolfpack to five consecutive NCAA tournaments, for a rebuilding job at Arizona State.

It was a perhaps baffling move to those not familiar with North Carolina State fans’ seething over Sendek’s style, and perhaps more important, his inability to overtake nearby Duke and North Carolina.

“A great hire,” Howland said in the days before the game. “What I thought was, ‘Why would N.C. State have any disappointment with all he accomplished?’ I thought he did a great job.”

For a while Thursday night, it looked as if he might do a better job than Howland and the Bruins could stand.

robyn.norwood@latimes.com