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. Adidas Brayden McNabb Jersey . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. 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On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance.TEMUCO, Chile -- Canada is one win away from winning promotion to the top tier of under-20 world rugby. The Canadian under-20 men defeated Uruguay 36-15 on Wednesday to finish atop Pool B at the second-tier IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy. Canada will play Italy in Sundays final at the Estadio German Becker. The winner earns promotion to the elite IRB Junior World Championship, which features the top 12 teams. Coached by Mike Shelley, Canada opened the eiight-team tournament in Chile defeating Tonga 24-6 and Japan 39-15.dddddddddddd. The Italians edged Namibia 23-21 Wednesday to improve to 3-0. Italy was relegated from the IRB Junior World Championship last year after finishing 12th and last. Canada finished fifth last year at the World Rugby Trophy and was fourth in 2011 and fifth in 2010. Italy relegated Canada to the lower event in 2009, defeating the Canadians 32-22 for 12th place. ' ' '