Warrior Insider

LOS ANGELES — Prince Ali scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed five rebounds and Kris Wilkes added 16 points tonight to help UCLA blow past visiting Hawai’i, 80-61, in non-conference men’s basketball.

A crowd of about 5,000 at Pauley Pavilion also watched Moses Brown contribute 11 points, three boards and two assists as the Bruins improved to 5-2. Owen Hulland scored 14 points and Jack Purchase and Brocke Stepteau each added 10 points for the Warriors, who fell to 4-4.

UCLA jumped out to leads of 6-0, 11-3 and 18-5 in the first five minutes and was never seriously threatened. The Warriors mounted a 10-2 run and closed it to 20-15 on Owen Hulland’s layup with 12:09 remaining in the first half, but the Bruins roared back with a 15-1 surge emphatically capped by Brown’s slam dunk off an alley-oop assist from Ali to make it 35-16 with 6:27 left.

Hulland answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing and then a driving layup to cut it to 35-21 with 4:38 remaining, but UCLA responded with an 8-2 run culminating in Chris Smith’s 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Bruins ahead, 43-23 with 1:47 left en route to a 45-26 halftime lead.

UH closed it to 49-31 on Samuta Avea’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 17:29 remaining, but UCLA again responded with a 13-4 run to push the lead to 62-35 after Riley’s slam dunk with 13:23 left, and the Warriors could not get closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

The Warriors are scheduled to return to Honolulu on Thursday. The next game will be on December 8 against Hawai’i-Hilo in the Stan Sheriff Center.

More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.

(Game photo courtesy Warren Haraki)