Amari Bailey and Jaylen Clark each scored 14 points Sunday and No. 21 UCLA rattled off eight straight points down the stretch to knock off Oregon 65-56 in a Pac-12 Conference contest in Los Angeles.
Jaime Jaquez added 12 points for the Bruins (7-2, 2-0) despite playing just 23 minutes after running into quick foul trouble in the first half. Tyger Campbell finished with 10 despite making only 4 of 15 shots from the field.
Quincy Guerrier scored a game-high 15 points for the Ducks (4-5, 1-1) and Will Richardson added 13, but it wasn’t enough. Oregon committed 15 turnovers and was also dominated on the boards 36-25.
However, the Ducks trailed 55-54 after Lok Wur made a pair of free throws with 4:22 left in the game. But Jaquez and Bailey each scored four points during the game-clinching run that Bailey capped with a fast-break dunk at the 1:54 mark for an insurmountable 63-54 advantage.
UCLA made 40.6 percent of its field goal tries but squeezed off 15 more shots than Oregon because of its ability to rebound and force turnovers.
There wasn’t much beauty to the first half for either team. Oregon ran into turnover trouble while UCLA experienced frightful difficulties converting shots and lost Jaquez with two fouls in the first 5:43. He didn’t return until the second half.
But the Ducks were better able to make up for their issues with sharp shooting. They canned 52 percent of their shots in the half and led for the last 17:38, opening a 24-17 advantage at the 4:16 mark when Kel’el Ware converted a layup.
While Oregon cooled after that, the Bruins couldn’t make inroads into that deficit for the half’s remainder. Guerrier made a foul shot with two seconds left that allowed the Ducks to head for the locker room with a 27-21 cushion.
–Field Level Media