Skyy Clark scored 22 points, Donovan Dent added 14 points and five assists, and No. 19 UCLA overwhelmed visiting Presbyterian from the opening tip en route to an 86-46 win on Friday in Los Angeles.
The Bruins (5-1) opened the game on a 17-4 run with repeated attacks of the rim. The opening salvo, spanning almost eight minutes, set the tone for a night in which UCLA scored 50 points in the paint.
Brandon Williams — making the start with Tyler Bilodeau held out due to a knee sprain sustained in practice — was central to UCLA establishing dominance in the interior and on the glass early.
Williams grabbed four of his game-high-tying seven rebounds in the opening seven minutes. The Bruins held a 33-25 rebounding edge for the game and were leading on the offensive boards until the closing minutes, despite UCLA outshooting Presbyterian from the floor, 32 of 51 to 17 of 51.
Clark led UCLA’s torrid 62.7% shooting pace, going 9 of 11 from the field. Williams went 4 of 7 on the way to 11 points, Dent shot 5 of 9 and Xavier Booker scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting.
Presbyterian (3-5) struggled to find much offensive rhythm in the finale of a five-game road trip, which included a three-game swing through California. The brightest glimmer of hope for the Blue Hose came at the end of the first half, when they held UCLA without a point for the final 4:13.
Presbyterian endured its own scoring drought of more than three minutes at the same time, however, and could only trim a 25-point deficit to 17 early in the second half.
Jonah Pierce scored 17 seconds out of halftime, and Triston Wilson and Iverson King each scored at the rim before Presbyterian went almost four minutes without another point. The Bruins put the game effectively out of reach by that juncture, growing their lead to 34 points.
Pierce led Presbyterian with 13 points. Wilson scored nine points despite shooting 2 of 8 of the floor, though he was 5 of 6 at the foul line.
