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No. 4 UCLA Wins Its Ninth Game In A Row By Beating Pac-12 Rival Arizona State, 79-61

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Basketball

The No. 4 UCLA men's basketball team recorded its ninth consecutive victory with a 79-61 win against Arizona State in a Pac-12 game in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. totaled 26 points and seven rebounds, logging at least 20 points for the fifth time in the Bruins' last six games. He made 8 of 18 shots and was 9-for-10 at the free throw line.
 
Tyger Campbell had 18 points, four rebounds, and three steals, while Jaylen Clark finished the game with 15 points – all in the second half – and 11 rebounds. Clark recorded his fourth double-double of the season (and his fifth career double-double).
 
UCLA (26-4, 17-2 Pac-12) extended its home winning streak to a nation-best 24 games. The Bruins, who clinched the Pac-12 regular-season title in outright fashion last Sunday, overcame an early 12-2 deficit against Arizona State (20-10, 11-8 Pac-12) on Thursday.
 
"Obviously, Jaime was awesome in the first half," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "That was our high [in] urnovers for the season. But Arizona State, and give Coach Hurley credit, what he has done this year to be able to put this team together with four transfers that start … for them to have 20 wins, he's just done a great job this year. Obviously, Tyger and Jaime had it rolling on offense."
 
The Bruins outrebounded Arizona State by a 47-23 margin and grabbed a season-high 20 offensive boards. Clark and Adem Bona each pulled down 11 rebounds. Bona finished Thursday's contest with eight points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
DJ Horned scored 13 points to lead Arizona State. Warren Washington finished with 12 points and a team-leading six rebounds. Desmond Cambridge Jr. contributed 10 points and had two steals.
 
UCLA took a 36-32 lead at halftime, after having trailed 12-2 early, and outscored the visiting Sun Devils by a 43-29 margin in the second half.
 
Arizona State made five of its five seven shots to secure a 12-2 cushion early in the first half. Trailing by a 12-6 margin, the Bruins received 13 consecutive points to help reduced Arizona State's cushion to 21-19 at the 7:51 mark.
 
Jaquez Jr. helped UCLA tie the contest, 23-23, on another fast-break dunk with 5:42 to play before the intermission.
 
The Sun Devils used a 3-pointer by Cambridge Jr. to reclaim the lead, 26-23, and still led by three points when a flurry of technical, flagrant and offensive fouls burned them.
 
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley was assessed a technical foul with 2:25 to play, and Campbell made both free throws as a result. Jaquez Jr. then buried two additional free throws to put the Bruins ahead of Arizona State, 29-28.
 
After a steal by Clark on the following possession, ASU was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul. Campbell's two ensuing free throws pushed UCLA's cushion to 31-28.
 
An offensive foul led to a David Singleton pull-up jumper that gave the Bruins their largest lead of the first half – at 33-28 – with 1:07 to play. UCLA capped the first half with a deep 3-point basket from Campbell to lead, 36-32.
 
Jaquez Jr. scored 19 of his team-leading 26 points before halftime.
 
The Bruins began the second half on a 14-5 scoring run that included a 7-0 stretch, using a Clark fast-break layup with 16:01 on the clock to take a 50-37 lead. Campbell had seven points and two assists in that scoring run. UCLA ran off another 7-0 scoring run to go up by 16 points with 12:09 to play.
 
The Bruins saw their lead reach a game-high 20 points – at 73-53 – after Clark had completed a personal 5-0 scoring run with 4:01 to play. Clark had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the second half.
 
UCLA will conclude its regular-season schedule this Saturday, hosting No. 8-ranked Arizona in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Game time is 7 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' contest will be televised on ESPN. Prior to the game, UCLA will honor five senior student-athletes with a special "Senior Night" ceremony (Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kenneth Nwuba, David Singleton and Russell Stong).
 
The Bruins have secured the No. 1 seed in next week's Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. The conference's top four teams will earn a first-round bye. UCLA's first game in the Pac-12 Tournament will take place against either the No. 8 or No. 9-seeded team on Thursday (March 9) at 12 p.m.