STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — In the final minutes, Trent Perry absorbed a hard foul that sent him tumbling to the court. When he rose, a wide smile split his face as he walked toward the free-throw line.
It was impossible not to feel good about everything unfolding around him.
After a steady uptick, Perry increasing his production given the chance to take an injured teammate’s spot in the starting lineup, the UCLA sophomore guard reached new heights here on a rainy, chilly night.
Perry scored 22 of his career-high 30 points in the second half, shaking UCLA out of several moments of malaise as it pulled away for a 71-60 victory over Penn State on Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Each of Perry’s four three-pointers in the second half seemed to come at a pivotal moment, including one from the corner off an inbounds pass from Donovan Dent that increased the Bruins’ lead to five. He later added a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock to push his team’s advantage into double digits.
Forward Tyler Bilodeau added 21 points on seven-for-13 shooting for the Bruins, who won despite shooting 42.6% to the Nittany Lions’ 43.5% in large part because they grabbed 11 more rebounds and made all of their 21 free throws.
The big showings from Perry and Bilodeau were especially crucial given fellow starters Dent, Eric Dailey Jr. and Xavier Booker combined for just two points while missing all 10 shots.
UCLA (12-5 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) also found its shooting touch after making one of its first 10 three-pointers, going on to bury nine of its next 14.
This might have felt like a fourth consecutive road game for UCLA considering the Bruins just played one home game sandwiched between two road games on each side. The stretch of charter flights, hotel stays and bag packing and unpacking ends Saturday with a game at Ohio State.
The Bruins were playing their third consecutive full game without shooting guard Skyy Clark, who injured his hamstring during the second half of the team’s loss to Iowa earlier this month. There was better news when it came to forward Brandon Williams, who returned from a one-game absence caused by a lower-body injury.
Penn State also found itself down a player late in the first half when leading scorer Freddie Dilione V suffered an apparent right ankle injury and departed, never to return. Guard Dominick Stewart led the Nittany Lions (9-8, 0-6) with 16 points.
A disjointed first half that featured Dent sitting out a long stretch while apparently not feeling well ended in far more upbeat fashion for the Bruins.
Dent returned and his team rolled off 12 consecutive points before a questionable foul on Dent with two seconds left before halftime irked both the point guard and his coach, both of whom voiced their displeasure with officials. Penn State’s Melih Tunca was awarded two free throws that pulled the Nittany Lions to within 29-23.
There were some early positives for the Bruins. Backup center Steve Jamerson II continued to provide some badly needed hustle, scoring on two putbacks and forcing a traveling violation on Tunca by staying in front of him amid multiple moves.
Another big boost came from reserve freshman guard Eric Freeny. After missing the first six three-pointers of his career, Freeny confidently buried two shots from long range and grabbed two rebounds on the way to earning 11 minutes in the first half.
But the biggest lift unquestionably came from Perry, his rise steadying a team still trying to find consistency.
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