UCLA
13-6, 4-3
Oregon State
11-7, 3-3
UCLA Drops Pac-12 Road Game to Oregon State, 69-63
January 18, 2018 | Men's Basketball
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Aaron Holiday scored 22 points and Thomas Welsh recorded a double-double as the UCLA men's basketball team fell to Oregon State on the road, 69-63, Thursday night from Gill Coliseum. The Bruins have dropped two in a row in conference play and fall to 4-3 in the Pac-12 and 13-6 overall.
Holiday tallied his fifth 20-point performance in seven Pac-12 games and his ninth overall this season. Welsh collected his 11th double-double of the season as the 7-footer had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Smith scored nine points for the Bruins, the most for the freshman since having 10 against South Dakota on Dec. 19.
Oregon State (11-7, 3-3) had five players score in double-figures led by Tres Tinkle with 16 points, while Drew Eubanks and Stephen Thompson Jr. each had 12 points.
Trailing 48-40 with 12 minutes to play in the second half, UCLA used a 8-0 run to tie the game as Kris Wilkes had a transition dunk and Alex Olesinski scored a put-back layup. The Bruins would take its first lead of the second period after Smith scored on back-to-back possessions to go up 54-53 with 6:40 remaining.
Both teams traded the lead back-and-forth until Holiday hit two free throws for a 60-59 advantage at the 3:24 mark of the period. Oregon State would then hit back-to-back 3-pointers by Tinkle and Thompson Jr. to go up by five. UCLA was unable to cut the deficit after that and an Eubanks dunk with 34 seonds to play sealed the win for the Beavers.
Holiday scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, including shooting a perfect 10 for 10 from the free-throw line.
Both teams came out slow offensively to begin the game as the score was tied 13-13 with under eight minutes until halftime. The Bruins took a three-point lead at 23-20 after Jaylen Hands made a basket in the paint and Olesinski hit a 3-pointer with 3:47 to go until intermission. The Beavers responded by scoring 11 of the final 14 points of the half to take a 31-26 lead at the break.
UCLA shot 37.9 percent (22-58) from the field, including 30.4 percent (7-23) from behind the arc, while Oregon State was 36.5 percent (23-63) from the floor and 41.2 percent (7-17) from 3-point range. The Beavers won the rebounding battle 45-37 including grabbing 18 offensive boards.
The Bruins will complete its roadtrip on Saturday against Oregon at 7:15 p.m. PT from Matthew Knight Arena with the game being televised on ESPN.
