Tyler Bilodeau scored 18 points, Kobe Johnson added 12 points and eight rebounds, and No. 22-ranked UCLA cruised past visiting Rider in Monday’s season-opening contest in Los Angeles, 85-50.
The Bruins never trailed, jumping out to an immediate 6-0 lead against their visitors from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The UCLA lead reached double-digits midway through the first half on a Johnson 3-pointer.
From there, the Bruins never looked back. Their advantage never slipped to fewer than 19 points in the second half and remained at 30 or more for the final 4:19 when Dylan Andrews’ 3-pointer marked the end of a seven-point burst for the UCLA guard.
Andrews produced half of his 14 points over a 1:15 stretch in the second half that slammed the door on Rider and made Andrews one of four Bruins to score in double figures. Sebastian Mack added 12 points off the bench.
Andrews also distributed six assists, just shy of matching teammate Skyy Clark’s game high of seven.
Oklahoma State transfer Eric Dailey Jr. finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. His effort helped UCLA to a 34-of-65 shooting performance as a team, which included going 24 of 36 from inside the 3-point arc.
Dailey played a solid all-around game in his UCLA debut, matching Johnson’s game-high eight rebounds, blocking a shot and making a steal. Johnson and Bilodeau each picked up two steals.
The Broncs got 15 points from T.J. Weeks Jr., who shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range. The rest of the Rider lineup shot a combined 1 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Rider’s only other double-figure point scorer, Alaaeddine Boutayeb, scored 14 points in 17 minutes of action. No other Bronco scored more than five points.
Rider shot just 20 of 63 from the floor and a dismal 5 of 13 from the free-throw line. Boutayeb was 4 of 6 at the foul line; the rest of the Broncs were 1 of 7.
–Field Level Media
