LAHAINA » For the better part of a half, UCLA had the wide-eyed look of Chaminade’s latest victim at the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
Unfortunately for Chaminade, it wasn’t the second half.
After another sluggish start, the Bruins leveled out from an early-season tailspin in time to dispatch the Division II hosts 92-60 in the first round on Monday night at the Lahaina Civic Center.
First-year Silverswords coach Eric Bovaird had his team right where he wanted it at halftime, when the ‘Swords trailed just 40-38 against the predicted Pac-12 champions. The undersized upstarts even led by six points in the period, silencing the majority of UCLA fans in the arena.
"Our guys played tough. They didn’t give up," Bovaird said. "As you could see in the first half, we were in a ballgame. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to stop them in the second half, and struggled a little bit offensively."
UCLA (1-2), ranked No. 17 in the AP preseason poll, fell hard after losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee State to open the season.
The Bruins wanted no part of being Chaminade’s seventh victim in the tournament’s 28 years, and played like it after the break, outscoring the Silverswords 52-22. UCLA shot 57.6 percent in the period and put the game away with a 29-3 run spanning much of the second half.
Senior guard Lazeric Jones led five Bruins in double-figure scoring with 19 points and seven assists.
The Bruins advanced to face No. 14 Kansas in today’s second semifinal at 4:30 p.m.
UCLA’s tentative step back to respectability — and avoidance of its first 0-3 start since the 1940-41 season — was made possible in part by a return to action for embattled forward Reeves Nelson. Nelson scored only one point in 11 second-half minutes, but his team’s energy level skyrocketed with him in the game.
Over the past week, he missed a team meeting and was late to the team bus to Los Angeles International Airport for the flight to Hawaii. He caught a separate flight out, but that latest misstep cost him the chance to play in the first half.
Once he checked in soon after halftime, the 6-foot-8 junior wasted no time making an impact. He initiated several fast breaks on his five rebounds.
His emphatic swat of a Silverswords player had Bruins fans on their feet chanting his name.
"That’s behind us now," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of the Nelson drama. "I was really pleased with his energy that he brought to the team tonight when he got his chance to get in there."
It was still a mostly positive showing for Chaminade (2-1), which lost half its team in the offseason — the team that came within a few points of stunning Michigan State, then defeated Oklahoma in the 2010 seventh-place game. Those lost included 7-foot center Mamadou Diarra, fearless point guard Steven Bennett and sharpshooting forward Shane Hanson.
Chaminade freshman point guard Lee Bailey offered glimpses of future success with 16 points.
"(Last year) they looked at us and we looked like a D-I team," said ‘Swords senior forward Rickey Clayborn, who scored 11 points off the bench.
"We had size, quickness, and were big. This year we have a lot of all-around players."
Chaminade is 6-74 since the advent of its signature tournament in 1984. The ‘Swords have two more chances to add to their victims list this year. Next up is Georgetown in the consolation semifinals today at 11:30 a.m.
Walton on Memphis staff
Los Angeles Lakers veteran Luke Walton was an unusual sight on the Memphis Tigers’ bench … as an assistant coach.
"When it looked like the NBA lockout was going to continue to be a while, I asked him to do it, and he wanted to do it," said Memphis coach Josh Pastner, who was Walton’s position coach at Arizona. "Knowing full well once the lockout ends he was going to go back with the Lakers … it was a calculated risk, but the rewards sure outweigh the risk."
Kansas wins crowd battle
Kansas fans easily won the battle of the crowds in the 2011 tournament. Blue-clad Jayhawks fans swarmed the Lahaina Civic Center at the Monday nightcap, making up the bulk of the overflow crowd of more than 2,400.
Duke’s Cameron Crazies were a runner-up in both numbers and ferocity.
