UCLA basketball: Bruins escape with 73-72 victory over Arizona State
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UCLA apparently didn’t learn much from its game against Oregon State.
The Bruins put together a lockdown defensive effort in the first half against Arizona State on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena before letting the Sun Devils roar back to tie the score. It was almost an instant replay of UCLA’s narrow escape at Oregon State earlier this month.
Ultimately, the Bruins escaped again, pulling out a 73-72 overtime victory after a barrage of three-pointers early in the extra period. Lazeric Jones, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson each made a three-pointer to give UCLA a 70-63 lead.
Arizona State pulled to within 72-69 and had a chance to get even closer after Anderson missed the front end of a one and one, but Kyle Cain touched the ball over the rim on Keala King’s layup attempt was called for interference.
The Sun Devils rallied from 15 points down in the second half to force overtime, tying it with 22 seconds left in regulation on a tip-in by Trent Lockett of a missed free throw.
UCLA had one final shot to win in regulation. Jones inbounded the ball with 2.5 seconds left, but his pass went over Reeves Nelson’s head. Tyler Honeycutt collected the loose ball but missed a short leaning jumper at the buzzer.
We’ll have more later at www.latimes.com/sports.
--Ben Bolch in Tempe, Ariz.