PULLMAN, Wash. — Ben Howland had the solution for the Bruins’ struggles. The UCLA men’s basketball coach befuddled Washington State with a mid-game switch to a zone defense. Sophomore center Joshua Smith took it from there, sending UCLA home with its first win outside Southern California.

The Bruins closed out a 63-60 win, a relief given their late-game struggles on the road. While their road woes were halted, their domination inside Beasley Coliseum continued, marking the 18th straight win here.

Two days after he admitted that UCLA’s lack of execution against a zone defense – which led to a crushing 71-69 loss to Washington – was his fault, Howland unleashed a zone defense of his own on the Cougars.

But after the win, Howland was more preoccupied with how to keep up the play of his dominant man in the middle. Smith had a team-high 19 points, giving him a total of 43 in two games back in his home state.

Fresh off a shrewd coaching maneuver, Howland offered another solution.

“We’re moving all home games the rest of the year to the state of Washington,” he joked. “We’re on the road anyway, right?”

Smith once again had a perfect first half, like he did against Washington, hitting all five of his field goals for 11 points. But his major damage was done in a five-minute stretch in the second half.

The Bruins had just climbed back to take their first lead of the second half when Smith took over and UCLA (13-10, 6-5 Pac-12) followed suit. He banged the Cougars (12-11, 4-7) inside for two layups, then nailed two free throws that gave UCLA a seven-point lead.

“We’ve been seeing it in practice – it’s transitioning over into the game,” senior guard Lazeric Jones said of Smith. “I was telling him before the game to just be patient in (the post) and he was doing a great job. People can’t take charges if he’s down there taking his time and being patient. You’ve just got to straight-up guard him, and it’s hard for them to do it.”

Two consecutive big performances gives Smith something he can build on. He dominated once again, but he was happier that he was able to repeat what he did two nights ago.

“For me to be the player I know I can be, it’s just going to have to be a sustained effort,” Smith said. “Last year was the same.”

The Bruins wouldn’t relinquish the lead like they had in the past.

Even after fouling out with 1:42 left, Smith confidently walked to the bench and toyed with the Cougar crowd by forcing some premature “Sit Down!” chants. His teammates didn’t let this lead vanish and left the state of Washington content with a 1-1 split.

Jones and redshirt sophomore forward David Wear each had 15 points for the Bruins, who were playing without the injured Travis Wear (sprained left ankle), their second-leading scorer.

As for the zone, the reason for the switch was simple.

“Both their bigs, (Abe) Lodwick and (Brock) Motum, were such good perimeter shooters,” Howland said. “They stepped out on the perimeter and it was hard for us to match up with, it was hard for (Smith) to match up with.”

So Howland went with the zone defense, something he had previously said the team wasn’t practicing anymore.

Motum, in particular, gave the Bruins fits with his range and post moves. The 6-foot-10-inch Australian forward had a game-high 25 points on nine-of-18 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.

But only six of those points came after the break. The zone defense slowed the Cougars down and helped the Bruins account for Motum.

“We were just aware of where he was at,” said David Wear, who Motum blew by on a few first-half possessions. “He was getting a lot of his other shots off pick and rolls. The bigs were getting caught up in them. When we did (go zone) we didn’t get caught up in screens or anything like that.”

The zone defense also kept Smith, who was in foul trouble, at a lesser risk of picking up his final one. He played almost six minutes before fouling out, staying effective until the game was out of Washington State’s reach.

The element of surprise also worked in UCLA’s favor.

“That surprised (Washington State) because we hadn’t played zone in a while,” Howland said. “We had barely talked about it that much. That obviously really helped us.”