UCLA puts in the effort in 65-58 victory over Arizona

Travis Wear scored a career-high 20 points. Anthony Stover made his first free throws of the season. Tyler Lamb played so hard he was cramping with more than eight minutes left in the basketball game Thursday between UCLA and Arizona at Honda Center.

Amid noisy and numerous Wildcats fans chanting “U of A,” with Lamb writhing on the ground and the absence of starting center Josh Smith, UCLA played its heart out in a 65-58 victory.

It was the Bruins’ first Pac-12 Conference game win, and they avoided their first 0-3 league start since the 1987-88 season.

This game, which also served as the annual John R. Wooden Classic, turned UCLA’s way in the first half and stayed that way.

“We made a good step forward,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. “I’m especially pleased with both Wears. They made a good step forward this week.”

David Wear fouled out with 5:07 left and UCLA leading 57-50. He had 14 points and four rebounds and, upon his exit, Arizona’s Solomon Hill scored to draw Arizona within 57-54, as close as the Wildcats (10-5, 1-1) had been to the Bruins (8-7, 1-2) in the second half.

The Bruins held on, though, even though they scored only one basket in the final 5:37, when Travis Wear hit a layup. Lazeric Jones’ layup with 36.6 seconds left gave the Bruins a 62-56 lead.

Travis Wear hit two free throws with 3:09 left to give UCLA a 59-54 lead and the UCLA defense harassed Hill into a key turnover with 1:59 left in the game.

Jones was perfect with two free throws with 8.3 seconds left, sealing the win for the Bruins.

Howland said he was happy his team got the ball inside and he also tried to give Jones more offensive freedom by giving added point guard duties to Jerime Anderson and Tyler Lamb.

“It’s a lot different,” Jones said. “I’ve never played off the ball in my life. but if it’s going to help us get wins ? I’ll do what the coach tells me to do.”

The Bruins played carefully when they needed, committing nine turnovers, and the Wear twins, David and Travis, went aggressively to the basket, as Howland had demanded of them in practice this week.

With Smith on the sideline after suffering a concussion late in practice Tuesday, the Bruins took off on a 17-4 first-half run when Jerime Anderson knocked down a three-point shot. The fast-paced play put the Bruins ahead 21-12 and UCLA came into halftime holding a seven-point advantage, 37-30.

Arizona had closed it to within 31-29 with 3:51 left in the half on a Brendon Lavender shot, but the Wildcats didn’t score another basket before halftime.

Travis and David Wear combined for 20 first-half point (Travis had 12) in the first 20 minutes, and the Bruins defense held Arizona to 36.7% shooting (11 of 30) from the field.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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