UCLA
14-7, 5-4
California
7-14, 1-7
UCLA Defeats California, 70-57
January 25, 2018 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ Aaron Holiday scored a team-leading 21 points to help the UCLA men's basketball team defeat California, 70-57, in a Pac-12 contest on Thursday night.
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The Bruins (14-7, 5-4 Pac-12) used an 18-0 scoring run midway through the first half and entered the locker room at halftime with a 38-31 cushion.
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Cal's Justice Sueing led the Golden Bears (7-14, 1-7) with 24 points, as he connected on 8 of 17 shots from the field and 4 of 9 three-point attempts.
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UCLA's Jaylen Hands had 14 points and Kris Wilkes finished with 10 to round out the Bruins' list of double-figure scorers.
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The Bruins trailed by 13 points โ 27-14 โ at the 9:50 mark in the first half when senior center Thomas Welsh went to the locker room with a left knee sprain. At that point in the contest, UCLA scored 16 consecutive points as part of an 18-0 run to take a 32-27 lead.
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After halftime, California came back to regain the lead at the 11:58 mark on a three-point basket from Sueing. The Bruins responded with a 6-0 scoring run and pulled ahead, 51-47. Welsh nailed a three-pointer to cap a 9-2 scoring run as the Bruins led, 54-49, with 6:42 remaining. An ensuing fast-break dunk by Hands brought the Pauley Pavilion faithful to their feet as UCLA surged ahead, 58-51.
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Through the game's final five minutes, UCLA's cushion never fell to fewer than seven points.
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California outrebounded UCLA, 41-34, as the Golden Bears' big man Kingsley Okoroh totaled 14 points โ including eight offensive boards.
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Wilkes finished with a team-leading seven rebounds for UCLA, while Welsh totaled seven points and five rebounds after having missed some time being evaluated by medical staff late in the first half.
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UCLA will return to action against Stanford (11-10, 5-4 Pac-12) on Saturday evening in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (PT). UCLA's game against Stanford will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
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