Perry sparks UCLA to victory

He scores 22 of his career-high 30 points in the second half to ignite Bruins' offense.

- BY BEN BOLCH

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -In the final minutes, Trent Perry absorbed a hard foul that sent him tumbling to the court. When he rose, a wide smile split his face as he walked toward the freethrow line.

It was impossible not to feel good about everything unfolding around him.

After a steady uptick, Perry increasing his production given the chance to take an injured teammate's spot in the starting lineup, the UCLA sophomore guard reached new heights on a rainy, chilly night.

Playing with an elevated confidence that showed in every move he made, Perry scored 22 of his career-high 30 points in the second half Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, shaking his team out of an early malaise as the Bruins pulled away for a 71-60 victory over Penn State.

Each of Perry's four three-pointers in the second half seemed to come at a pivotal moment, including one from the corner off an inbounds pass from Donovan Dent that increased the Bruins' lead to five points.

He later added a threepointer at the end of the shot clock to push his team's advantage into double digits.

"All the coaches have been just telling me, 'Let it fly, be aggressive,'" said Perry, who made seven of 13 shots, four of eight threepointers and all 12 free throws. "I mean, with Skyy [Clark] out, they've just been telling me, 'You're playing with Donny, he's going to find you, be aggressive,' and that's what's going on."