LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Norman Powell led a balanced UCLA attack with 17 points Wednesday in the 24th-ranked Bruins' 82-56 victory over Cal State-Northridge.
UCLA (5-2) was coming off an upset at the hands of Cal-Poly and was reeling from loss of two players this week as Joshua Smith left the team for personal reasons and Tyler Lamb quit due to a lack of playing time.
The Bruins were slightly down early against Northridge (6-2) but Powell erased the final deficit with a 3-point play midway through the first half and UCLA steadily pulled away from there for a 38-24 halftime lead.
The trend held through the second half when the Bruins used a Powell 3-point shot to push the advantage to 49-26 and cruised to the win from there.
Powell's 17 points led all scorers while Kyle Anderson added 15 points, Travis Wear 14 and Shabazz Muhammad 13 for the Bruins. Northridge, which was led by Stephan Hicks' 11 points and 10 from Landon Drew, shot just 32.9 percent (24-of-73) from the field.
