Bruins Start Slow, Then Rally to Win : College basketball: Petruska, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, scores 21 points in UCLA debut.

UCLA hasn’t lost a home opener in 40 years, so it probably came as a surprise to a crowd of 6,612 at Pauley Pavilion Wednesday night when the Bruins fell behind by 12 points against St. Louis.

St. Louis was 5-23 last season, 0-10 in the Great Midwest Conference, and hasn’t won on the road since March 3, 1991.

The Billikens faltered, however, and the Bruin faithful went home happy after UCLA made 66.7% of its shots in the second half and won, 68-54, in the first round of the preseason National Invitation Tournament.

“We just have to play with a little more intensity, a little more enthusiasm,” said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick.

Playing without junior guard Shon Tarver, their leading returning scorer, the Bruins were led by senior center Richard Petruska, a transfer from Loyola Marymount who scored 21 points and took nine rebounds in his UCLA debut, and sophomore point guard Tyus Edney, who scored a career-high 16 points and turned the game with his all-around play in the second half.

Tarver, who suffered a deep thigh bruise in his left leg while playing a one-on-one game against teammate Ed O’Bannon after practice on Tuesday, said that he should be able to play Friday, when the Bruins will meet Texas El Paso in a 9 p.m. quarterfinal game at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA made do without Tarver against St. Louis, in large part because the Billikens had no answer for Edney.

“He may not have made the baskets, but he broke the defense down so that he had us scattered out to where we didn’t know where we were or what we were doing,” St. Louis Coach Charlie Spoonhour said.

“And he took away the momentum from us when he started increasing the defensive pressure out front. He’s a very good player.”

Good enough that he took control when UCLA looked lost.

Harrick complained last week that, when the NCAA moved the start of practice from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1 this year, it didn’t give him enough time to properly prepare for a mid-November opener.

But, after taking the Bruins on a nine-game tour of Italy at the end of the summer, he had an advantage over Spoonhour, who was hired in April after nine seasons at Southwest Missouri State and had not worked with the Billikens before this month.

“We really don’t know enough about our players to make any educated guesses (about their potential),” Spoonhour said before the game. “We’ve got a bunch to do.

“We’re going to just come out and do the very best we can with two weeks to prepare. We’re going to have to come out and play hard and see where it takes us.”

It took them to a 21-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.

UCLA turned cold and sloppy after racing to a 7-0 lead.

St. Louis outscored the Bruins, 21-2, during the next 7 1/2 minutes as UCLA missed four of five shots, made eight turnovers and saw captain Mitchell Butler pick up his third foul with 9:16 left in the half.

A three-point shot from the right corner by Scott Highmark capped the run and the Billikens still led by 31-19 with four minutes to play in the half, after which the Bruins started to cut into their deficit.

“It was kind of a wake-up call for us to step back and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute,’ ” Harrick said of the Billikens’ spurt. “It was like getting a good right-hand punch. That will wake you up.”

UCLA trailed at halftime, 34-28, but caught the Billikens at 42-42 with 14:06 to play, when Edney stripped the ball from Marcus Jones at mid-court and drove for a layup. The Bruins took a 44-42 lead with 13:21 remaining, when Edney fed Petruska for a dunk, and never trailed again.

Bruin Notes

Shon Tarver played in all 65 games during his freshman and sophomore seasons. . . . UCLA plans to go before the UC Board of Regents in January with a plan to add about 1,400 club seats at Pauley Pavilion. If approved, the seats would be added before the 1994-95 season, increasing the capacity to more than 14,200. . . . Walk-on David Boyle, a transfer from Cypress College, played the last eight minutes for UCLA. “He’s a fundamentally sound machine,” Coach Jim Harrick said of the junior from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana. “Technique-wise, he does everything near-perfect.”