McKinley Wright IV had 26 points and six assists, Evan Battey had 12 points, and the Colorado Buffaloes beat the UCLA Bruins 70-61 in Boulder, Colo., on Saturday night.
Jeriah Horne scored 10 points for the Buffaloes, who used a 15-1 run in the final seven minutes to take control. Colorado (19-7, 13-6 Pac-12) has won three straight.
Johnny Juzang had 25 points and Jaylen Clark scored 10 for UCLA, which had several costly turnovers down the stretch. The Bruins (17-6, 13-4) lead the conference by a game over Oregon after their three-game winning streak was snapped.
The Buffaloes started quick in the second half to take a 40-37 lead, but UCLA came back with six straight points to flip the score. The game continued to seesaw, with Colorado going back in front on a 3-pointer by Maddox Daniels, and then Juzang answering with one from deep.
The teams continued to trade baskets, with Tyger Campbell's 3-pointer giving the Bruins a 57-55 lead with 7:15 left.
Eli Parquet and D'Shawn Schwartz made layups off of UCLA turnovers and Horne drained one from deep off another turnover to put the Buffaloes in front 62-57 with 5:04 left.
Juzang had another turnover led to Battey's two free throws to extend Colorado's lead to seven. Jaime Jaquez Jr. split a pair of foul shots on the other end, Battey hit two more from the line for the Buffs. After Jules Bernard turned it over, Bruins coach Mick Cronin was hit with a technical foul and Horne made both foul shots to extend it to a 68-58 lead.
Wright made a jumper, Clark missed on the other end and the Buffaloes were able to close it out.
The first half was tight for most of the 20 minutes but the Bruins used a 13-4 scoring run to lead 32-24 with 3:22 left. Colorado came right back with eight straight points, six by Wright, to tie it before UCLA went into intermission with a 35-34 lead.
--Field Level Media
UCLA | Colorado | |
Johnny Juzang 25 | Scoring | McKinley Wright IV 26 |
Tyger Campbell 4 | Assists | McKinley Wright IV 6 |
Jaime Jaquez Jr. 8 | Rebounds | Evan Battey 6 |
Johnny Juzang 8 | Free Throws Made | Evan Battey 8 |
Jules Bernard 1 | Steals | Eli Parquet 2 |
Jaylen Clark 1 | Blocks | Jabari Walker 1 |