Bruins pull off a half gainer

Must have been some halftime talk by UCLA Coach Ben Howland.

The Bruins, into their second day of being ranked No. 1, scored the first 15 points of the second half on their way to an 88-58 win over Long Beach State on Tuesday night in front of 8,428 at Pauley Pavilion.

It is UCLA’s first 5-0 start since the 1994-95 season, which was the last time the Bruins were ranked No. 1 or won a national championship.

That 15-0 run turned a five-point lead into a blowout. Maybe it was lucky the game was not televised and that about a quarter of Pauley Pavilion was empty -- fewer eyes to watch the Bruins miss dunks and layups, get outworked and outrebounded and generally outplayed in the first half.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who had been averaging 15.3 points, went scoreless in the first half, and point guard Darren Collison, who had been contributing 14 points a game, had one point in the first 20 minutes.

But Collison made two free throws to start the second half because he was aggressive in driving the lane. Mbah a Moute scored on a rebound 50 seconds later and in between Arron Afflalo knocked down an open three-point shot.

The Bruins were running, Collison was causing havoc (he had two steals in the run and finished with nine) and UCLA was ahead, 56-36, before the 49ers’ Aaron Nixon banked in a three-pointer with the 35-second shot clock running out.

“We were a little tired,” Howland said. “We played tired, there was that look on the faces of a couple of guys.”

Howland said UCLA’s trip to Maui last week was “grueling” even though the Bruins beat nationally ranked Kentucky and Georgia Tech on the way to the tournament title and the No. 1 ranking.

“Part of being ranked No. 1,” Howland said, “is that everywhere we went on campus today, yesterday, that’s all we heard about, that it’s so great, so wonderful. If we don’t come out and play with passion, run as hard as we can, we run the risk of losing.”

Afflalo said Howland gave a spirited halftime talk.

“Quite frankly, it was just strictly about our effort,” Afflalo said.

Said Josh Shipp: “You could see it on his face, coach was mad.”

Howland relaxed a little after the quick second-half start.

And Russell Westbrook made the crowd stand when he made three consecutive three-pointers later in the half. Westbrook is playing the role held by Collison last season -- point guard in training. He finished with 11 points and a big smile.

“I’m always comfortable when I’m shooting,” Westbrook said. “It’s just a matter of whether they go in or not.”

The made shots were a contrast to the first half, when the Bruins shot better from three-point range (57.1%) than from the field overall (39.4%). There was a noisy missed roundhouse slam dunk by sophomore forward Ryan Wright and another by backup center Alfred Aboya.

Center Lorenzo Mata and Shipp, among almost all the others, missed open layups. And Mbah a Moute took only one shot in the first 20 minutes.

But the second half was all Bruins and Wright even had the confidence to try another slam dunk in the second half. He made it emphatically and pumped his fist.

The 49ers (2-3) were led by the 15 points and 16 rebounds of forward Sterling Byrd. Shipp finished with a game-high 24 points for the Bruins, who were outrebounded, 45-38. Shipp also took some good-natured offense at the suggestion he made six of his nine three-point shots because he wasn’t being well-guarded.

“I did a good job of moving without the ball,” he said.

Howland said the 49ers surprised the Bruins in the first half by playing strictly man-to-man defense after the UCLA staff had watched the 49ers play mostly zones this season. Coach Larry Reynolds said the 49ers, who committed 23 turnovers, couldn’t take advantage of UCLA’s sloppy first half.

“When you’re playing on the edge like that,” Reynolds said, “you can’t give a good team too much.”

His own team, Howland said, is playing better offense than a year ago. “But we’re not as close defensively,” he said.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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UP NEXT FOR USC

Saturday vs. Loyola Marymount (5-2), Galen Center, 6 p.m. -- USC needed a career-high 36 points from Gabe Pruitt to hold off the Lions, 71-69, last season at Gersten Pavilion. Loyola Marymount forward Matthew Knight didn’t play most of the second half after suffering a concussion.