UCLA
5-2,0-0Pac-12
Bellarmine
2-5,0-0ASUN
No. 19 UCLA Defeats Bellarmine, 81-60
November 27, 2022 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored a team-leading 27 points to lead the No. 19 UCLA men's basketball team past Bellarmine, 81-60, in a non-conference game in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom on Sunday evening.
Jaquez Jr. scored 15 of his team-best 27 points in the first half. The senior from Camarillo, Calif., finished Sunday's game having knocked down 13 of 17 shots. He tallied a team-leading seven rebounds and recorded four steals in the win.
UCLA (5-2) won its second game in five days, outscoring Bellarmine in the paint by a 54-20 margin.
"Obviously a different game today – they didn't have [Juston] Betz and we didn't have Jaylen Clark," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Jaylen was feeling flu-like symptoms. But both teams played extremely hard, and I knew Coach Davenport was going to have his guys ready. He needs to evaluate his scheduling. They played at Duke, at Clemson, at Loyola Marymount, at UCLA. I don't like their chances, but look how hard his kids play. If you respect the game, watching them play is refreshing, in my opinion."
Coach Cronin, Postgame | UCLA's Student-Athletes, Postgame
Adem Bona finished with a season-best 16 points, sinking six of seven shots (and four of six free throw attempts). Tyger Campbell had 10 points and 10 assists, while Amari Bailey registered 12 points, eight assists and four steals.
Bellarmine (2-5) knocked down 11 of 32 attempts from 3-point range. Ben Johnson led the visiting Knights with 20 points. Curt Hopf tallied 16 points, finishing the game 4-for-8 from 3-point territory.
UCLA led Bellarmine at halftime by a 43-27 tally.
The Bruins extended their advantage to 20 points – at 52-32 – with 16:52 to play on a fast-break dunk by Jaquez Jr. Bellarmine closed the gap to 10 points on a basket by Hopf with just 7:46 remaining in regulation.
From that point in the contest, the Bruins used a 7-0 scoring run on a 3-pointer from Campbell, a layup from Campbell and a dunk by Bona, to secure a 67-50 advantage. UCLA pushed its lead by up to 19 points with 3:16 to play.
In all, the Bruins shot a season-high 60.8 percent from the field. That marked UCLA's highest single-game field goal percentage since midway through last season, when the Bruins made 61.7 percent (29-of-47) of their shots in a home victory against Oregon State (Jan. 15, 2022).
UCLA shot just 18.8 percent from 3-point range (3-for-16), but finished the game having made 28 of 35 shots from 2-point range (80.0 percent).
The Bruins will return to action at Stanford this Thursday evening. Game time at Stanford's Maples Pavilion is set for 7:30 p.m. (PT). UCLA's game at Stanford will be nationally televised on ESPN2, with Dave Feldman and Corey Williams on the call.
Following the road game at Stanford, UCLA will return home to host Oregon on Sunday, Dec. 4. Game time next Sunday (in Pauley Pavilion) is scheduled for 2 p.m. (PT).
