Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 14 points, Jules Bernard had 12, and the host UCLA Bruins beat the Colorado Buffaloes 65-62 on Saturday night.
Tyger Campbell added 11 and Cody Riley and Johnny Juzang scored 10 apiece for UCLA.
The Bruins (7-2, 3-0 Pac-12) were dealt a blow before the game when it was announced that senior Chris Smith would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. Smith suffered the injury Thursday night in what was initially diagnosed as a bone bruise.
McKinley Wright IV and Maddox Daniels scored 12 points each and Eli Parquet and Jeriah Horne had 10 apiece for the Buffaloes (7-3, 1-2).
UCLA quickly broke away from a halftime tie thanks to a 9-3 run, forcing a Colorado timeout. A layup by Wright and four free throws tied the game again at 38.
The Bruins scored the next six points, but the Buffaloes crawled back within 48-47 on a jumper by Keeshawn Barthelemy.
Riley's two layups put the Bruins up 58-54 with 3:56 left. After Evan Battey split a pair of free throws, Campbell hit a layup, Colorado's D'Shawn Schwartz missed a 3-pointer and Riley sank two foul shots to make it 62-55, UCLA's biggest lead of the night, with 2:16 left.
The Buffaloes made one last run. Daniels scored on a layup, Jaquez missed on the other end and Wright hit a jumper in the lane to cut it to 62-59 with 1:08 left.
Wright then blocked Campbell's shot and got the rebound. Colorado called a timeout with 27 seconds left to set up a potential game-tying play, but Daniels missed two 3-pointers, and Juzang drained to free throws to clinch it.
The teams traded the lead in the first half, with UCLA going up by five late in period before Colorado went ahead with a 10-3 run. Campbell's 3-pointer with 33 seconds left tied it at 29 at intermission.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | UCLA | |
Maddox Daniels 12 | Scoring | Jaime Jaquez Jr. 14 |
McKinley Wright IV 3 | Assists | Tyger Campbell 7 |
Evan Battey 6 | Rebounds | Jules Bernard 7 |
Maddox Daniels 4 | Free Throws Made | Johnny Juzang 4 |
D'Shawn Schwartz 2 | Steals | Tyger Campbell 3 |
McKinley Wright IV 1 | Blocks | Jaime Jaquez Jr. 1 |