After an impressive comeback victory against USC Thursday night, the WSU men’s basketball team could not figure out the UCLA defense Saturday as the Cougars lost 74-62.

In the first half, both teams battled for the lead. The Cougars managed to stay close despite poor shooting from the floor. WSU connected on only 10-29 (34.5 percent) field goals during the first half, while UCLA knocked down 12-25 (48 percent).

Headed into the halftime break, the Cougars found themselves down 30-27.

In the second half, however, the Bruins took both their offense and defense to another level, steam rolling past the Cougars who did not come out of the gates as strong.

Perhaps the biggest problem UCLA gave WSU all afternoon was its zone defense, which rattled the Cougar offense.

“I thought the performance for UCLA was impressive,” Bone said. “They did a good job with their zone defense. Inside, they were very effective.” The Bruins were red hot the entire second half by knocking down nearly 74 percent of their field goals, while the Cougars again struggled from the floor by shooting less than 37 percent.

After its lead was cut to 2 points early in the second half, UCLA rattled off a decisive 16-3 run to put them up 48-33 with 11:14 left in regulation.

The run was sparked by UCLA’s Nikola Dragovic and Reeves Nelson. They poured in 8 points each during the stretch.

Dragovic finished with 18 points, but 16 came in the second half to help spark the Bruins to their fourth Pac-10 win of the season. Nelson finished with 19 points to lead UCLA.

UCLA did a fantastic job defending sophomore forward Klay Thompson, who struggled to find his shooting stroke. Thompson, who was averaging 22.8 points per game going into Saturday’s contest, finished with 13 points off 5-17 shooting. Thompson was also just 2-9 from beyond the arc.

“I give (the Bruins) a lot of credit, but Klay had a lot of looks he usually makes,” freshman point guard Reggie Moore said. “It wasn’t their zone that was messing him up – he was often wide open.” Moore also said he wasn’t worried about Thompson’s performance and knows the sharpshooter can knock down those shots.

Moore led all scorers with 24 points, which was 1 point shy of a career high. He shot 9-17 from the floor, including going an impressive 6-10 from beyond the arc. Moore has led the Cougars in scoring in five of the last seven games.

“He did a nice job,” WSU Head Coach Ken Bone said. “His scoring helped us stay in that game.” Moore knocked down a three-pointer with 1:55 remaining to cut the Bruins lead to 67-60, but the Bruins scored the next 7 points to secure their victory over WSU. With the loss, the Cougars are now 2-51 all time at Pauley Pavilion.

The young Cougars are now 14-6 overall and an even 4-4 in conference play.

WSU’s next matchup will be a showdown against in-state rival Washington on Saturday. The Huskies are struggling lately with back-to-back losses against UCLA on a buzzer beater Thursday and a whupping at the hands of USC, 87-61, on Saturday.