UCLA
8-3
South Dakota
11-4
UCLA Defeats South Dakota, 85-82
December 19, 2017 | Men's Basketball
Thomas Welsh recorded his seventh double-double of the season, totaling 19 points and 11 rebounds, as UCLA held on to defeat South Dakota, 85-82, on Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion.
After having outscored the visiting Coyotes (11-4) by a 27-point margin in the first 15 minutes of the second half, UCLA saw South Dakota use a 28-6 scoring run in the game's final five minutes to trim the Bruins' margin to just two (84-82) with three seconds to go.
A three-point by South Dakota's Brandon Armstrong trimmed the UCLA lead to 84-82 with 2.3 seconds to go. After UCLA's Jaylen Hands was fouled on the inbounds play, the freshman guard went to the free throw line and made one of two free throws to put the Bruins ahead, 85-82.
South Dakota's Dan Jech inbounded the ball with 1.5 seconds to play, but Welsh tipped the entry pass and time expired before the Coyotes could get off a last-second desperation heave.
UCLA (8-3) finished Tuesday night's game with five players scoring in double figures. In addition to Welsh, the Bruins received 15 points from Aaron Holiday and a career-high-tying 12 points from G.G. Goloman. Jaylen Hands totaled 12 points and classmate Chris Smith finished with 10.
"The start of the second half, to the final four minutes of the half, it was beautiful basketball," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "It was probably the best basketball that we've played in quite some time. So, the game was played very well. But then the lesson our guys learned was that they decided it was time to get ours now. And we'd talked about ball movement, of playing off one another and about unselfishness. And I thought that for those last four minutes, we were selfish. It was not very smart basketball."
South Dakota (11-4) led for the majority of the first half, holding the Bruins scoreless during a six-minute stretch to secure a 19-12 advantage. Hands hit a jump shot with 8:30 to play in the first half, cutting South Dakota's margin to 19-14.
Hands' jumper triggered a modest 6-2 scoring run for UCLA, pulling the Bruins to within one point (21-20).
South Dakota's Matt Mooney, who finished with a team-leading 23 points, scored 17 points before halftime. The junior guard gave the Coyotes a six-point lead with under one minute to play in the opening half (36-30), but Hands helped slice South Dakota's advantage in half with a buzzer-beating three-point shot to end of the opening frame.
The Bruins ran off three consecutive layups to open the second half and never trailed the rest of the way. UCLA's 13-3 run to open the second half pushed the Bruins ahead, 46-39. After South Dakota tied the contest, 46-46, at the 15:37 mark, UCLA used a 17-3 run that was keyed by nine points from Welsh. That push the Bruins ahead by 14 points (63-49).
UCLA pushed its advantage to as many as 24 points, leading by a 78-54 margin with 5:01 to play in the game after dunk by Prince Ali.
From that point, South Dakota mounted its late rally. The Coyotes used a 20-2 run to close UCLA's lead to six points – at 80-74 – with under one minute to play.
UCLA will take on No. 7 Kentucky on Saturday, Dec. 23, in the annual CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT (3 p.m. CT) at Smoothie King Center. UCLA's game will follow a contest between Ohio State and North Carolina that is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. PT (12:30 p.m. CT). Both games will be nationally televised by CBS.
