defiance helped them secure a draw. Central

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA sustained several blows in the first half against Cal State Northridge, then delivered a knockout punch in the second half.Thats the way UCLA coach Steve Alford saw it as a poor first half, muddied by turnovers and missed shots, had the Bruins trailing at halftime. The No. 16 Bruins scored 62 second-half points and struck first, early and often as they dominated Cal State Northridge 102-87 on Sunday night.Freshman Lonzo Ball made a 3-pointer and went coast-to-coast with a one-handed dunk to start a span of seven consecutive points by UCLA. The Bruins took a 47-42 lead.How he started the second (half), he was a heavyweight fighter ready to knock you out, Alford said. How we started the first half, we wanted to rope-a-dope. We dont have anybody in our locker room thats Muhammad Ali. They dont understand the rope-a-dope. Theyre too young. We wanted to come out throwing punches first and early and I didnt think we did that. Its not necessarily their fault. Its a learning process.Isaac Hamilton had 22 points, and Bryce Alford 20.The Bruins had 20 turnovers, which was troubling, but used an improved second-half shot selection and made 58.8 percent of their shots compared to just 39.4 percent in the first half.They came in with a chip on their shoulders, Hamilton said. Being ranked, a lot of teams will do that and play hard. What we have to do, and Coach says, first five minutes, you have to throw the first punch and continue from there and let the momentum swing our way.UCLA (2-0) had 11 turnovers in first half, shot 39.4 percent from the field and trailed 42-40.Kendall Smith scored 21 points for the Matadors (1-1). Aaron Parks and Tavrion Dawson each added 18 points.I told the guys, if you believe in yourself and we can play this hard every night and push the ball with this type of energy, were going to win a lot of basketball games, Cal State Northridge coach Reggie Theus said. The hard thing about nonconference games, and we have a really tough nonconference schedule, is that you can play well and still lose. This game was probably won in a matter of 5-8 minutes where it got out of hand for us.Cal State Northridge has beaten UCLA just one time in the 10-game series history, but in the games first 20 minutes it appeared the Matadors could do it again. The Matadors beat the Bruins 78-74 in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 22, 2000, almost 16 years ago. CSUN would go on to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history that season.BIG PICTURECal State Northridge: This is just what Theus -- the former NBA player and coach -- wanted in terms of a test by scheduling difficult preseason road games. Playing difficult opponents should serve the Matadors well in terms of confidence and better prepare them to try to contend for a Big West Conference title.UCLA: The Bruins took a step backward in struggling against the Matadors for 20 minutes. Their undisciplined play resulted in turnovers and those mistakes must be cleaned up before the Pac-12 schedule starts. The Bruins executed much better offensively in the second half and made the right adjustments.SUCCESSFUL TRANSFERCSUN Guard Kendall Smith, a transfer from UNLV, played well against the Bruins and had 12 of his 21 points in the second half. Smith, who is in his second season with CSUN but first full season, had several fastbreak, uncontested dunks, including two in the first half that propelled CS Northridge to the halftime lead.QUOTABLEThats the mindset weve got to have. I dont know if ... any of our other guys had that mindset to start the game. Thats kind of the mindset you learn. Youre not going to go from one game to the next and score 119 points again and win by close to 40. It doesnt work that way. These are all learning things. Well get it. -- Alford on how the Bruins went from a 39-point win in their first game to trailing at halftime in their second.POLL IMPLICATIONSUCLA didnt do itself any favors by trailing at halftime against Cal State Northridge, but the Bruins pulled away in the second half and shouldnt lose any ground with a 15-point victory.UP NEXTCal State Northridge continues its tough preseason schedule with a second consecutive road game at a Pac-12 school on Tuesday night at Stanford.UCLA has several days off before hosting San Diego on Thursday, the third of four consecutive home games in a friendly stretch at Pauley Pavilion to start the season. Francisco Cervelli Jersey . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. Ronald Acuna Jr. Jersey . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. https://www.cheapbraves.com/193o-francisco-cervelli-jersey-braves.html . Argentina winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi scored, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up both despite having a poor game by his high standards. Forward Eduardo gave Ajaccio the lead in the sixth minute after being set up by right winger Benjamin Andre, and the Corsican side looked comfortable in the first half, with the lively Johan Cavalli causing problems with his probing runs from midfield. Ronald Acuna Jr. Braves Jersey . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Wholesale Braves Jerseys . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Medium-pacers Kyle Jamieson and Ed Nuttall shared 16 wickets between them to lead Canterbury to a narrow 10-run win over Auckland in Rangiora.Auckland captain Rob Nicol had put Canterbury in on the first day, and his seamers took nine wickets in bowling them out for 245. Aucland had a shaky start, losing three wickets by stumps on the first day, courtesy a late burst by Jamieson. On the second day, a 56-run fifth wicket partnership between debutant SM Solia (49) and Brad Cachopa (23), and a 94-run stand for the eighth wicket between Colin Munro - who scored an unbeaten 108 in 86 balls while batting with the tail - and Lockie Ferguson (41) helped them go past Canterburys total, despite Jamiesons career-best 8 for 74.Canterburys intent in the second innings was lead by their top three batsmen putting on 295 between them. Debutant, opener, Jack Boyle scored 81 in putting on 167 with Chad Bowes for the opening stand. Bowes then scored a career-best 155, as he put on 128 with Peter Fulton (72) for the second wicket. They scored at 4.16 per over, before declaring on 400 and setting Auckland 361 to win. Legspinner Tarun Nethula took his third five-wicket haul of the season and finished with 5 for 128.In their chase, Auckland reached 290 for 4 through fifties by Michael Guptill-Bunce (67), Mark Chapman (81) and Cachopa (75*). But a late burst by Nuttall (5-67) and Jamieson (3-86) saw them lose their last four wickets for nine runs to be bowled out for 350 and hand Canterbury a narrow win that put them in second place.Half-centuries from Bharat Popli and Nick Kelly helped Northern Districts stave off defeat against Central Districts on the fourth and final day of their Plunkett Shield fixture in Napier. Chasing 450, Central Districts blunted out 129 overs to make 295 for 7 when play ended.Central Districts, who elected to bat, weere bowled out for 225, with Will Youngs 61 being the highest score of the innings.dddddddddddd Ajaz Patel, the left-arm spinner, then took 5 for 22 in 17.2 overs to skittle Northen Districts out for 153. Tom Bruce (115) and Dane Clever (108*) struck centuries to build on Central Districts 70-run lead. Their 176-run stand for the fourth wicket helped extend the lead over 400, before they declared on 377 for 5 in 86 overs.Going into the final day, Northern Districts, on 105 for 2, had the task of either surviving the entire day or scoring 345 more to pull off an unlikely win. They were in some trouble at 162 for 5, before some lower-order defiance helped them secure a draw. Central Districts, who took the lead and dominated much of the proceedings, walked away with five points to top the six-team pool with 52 points in five matches. Northern Districts finished the round in fifth place.Rain on each of the four days in Dunedin meant an outright result wasnt possible, but Wellington pocketed eight points in whatever little play was possible against Otago to finish the round placed third.Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, took six wickets as Otago, who had decided to bat, were bowled out for 208. No. 3 Michael Bracewell, top-scored with 43, while Jimmy Neesham, left out of New Zealands squad for the second Test against Pakistan, managed just 11.In reply, Wellington lost two quick wickets - Michael Papps (47) and Stepheh Murdoch (43),who had put on 71 for the second wicket - to wobble briefly at 119 for 3 before being powered by Luke Ronchis unbeaten 119 that helped them take the lead. They eventually declared on 350 for 7. The result did little to help Otago lift themselves off the bottom of the table. ' ' '