A strong all-around effort from sophomore Reeves Nelson powered UCLA to a 79-69 victory over Pepperdine in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off Classic on Monday night.

Nelson scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds (10 in the second half) as the Bruins advanced to face the University of Pacific (2-0) in the West Regional finals on Tuesday night. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinal round of the 16-team tournament on Nov. 24 at Madison Square Garden.

Sophomore Tyler Honeycutt added 16 points, and freshmen Lazeric Jones and Josh Smith scored 13 apiece for the Bruins, who blew the game open early in the second half with a 16-0 run, capped by a layup from Honeycutt with 15:46 remaining. UCLA stretched the lead to as many as 24 points in the second half.

The Bruins played most of the game without starting point guard Malcolm Lee, who was injured early in the first half and did not return.

Junior guard Keion Bell led the Waves (0-2) with a game-high 24 points.

UCLA leads the all-time series against the Waves 17-4.