UCLA 80, Arizona State 75

By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – 1 hour 8 minutes ago

via Yahoo!Sports

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Travis Wear scored seven points in the final 90 seconds, including an 18-foot jump shot with 11.3 seconds remaining, and top-seeded UCLA overcame a 12-point lead in the final 7 1/2 minutes for a 80-75 victory over Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday at the MGM Grand Arena.

Wear had 15 points, Larry Drew II had 20 and Shabazz Muhammad had 16 as the Bruins (24-8) closed the game on a 22-9 run to advance.

Arizona State's Jonathan Gilling missed a 3-point attempt from the right corner with one second remaining, and UCLA's David Wear made two free throws to clinch it.

Center Jordan Bachynski led ASU (21-12) with 22 points and freshman point guard Jahii Carson had 21. Bachynski tied a career scoring high set in a 78-60 victory over UCLA on Jan.26, the Bruins' worst loss of the season.

Carson had a career-high 34 points in an 89-88 overtime victory over Stanford in the first round of the tournament.

Evan Gordon made two free throws with 1:43 remaining for a 74-72 victory, but Wear tied it with two free throws at 1:30. Gordon made another free throw at 1:19 before Wear hit a 14-footer from the right baseline for a 76-75 lead. After Gilling missed a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left, UCLA held the ball, and Wear's 18-footer from the left wing made it 78-75.

UCLA will play the winner of the Arizona-Colorado quarterfinal. UCLA beat Arizona twice and Colorado in their only meeting this season.

Arizona State, which had to win the Pac-12 tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament, took control in the first half with an early 20-10 run keyed by Carson and Bachynski, the focal points of the offense against a Bruins known more for its athleticism than its physicality.

Carson's 6-foot bank shot tied the game at seven to start run that included eight points from Bachynski, another driving bank shot by Carson and two 3-pointers from Jonathan Gilling, left open on the perimeter while the Bruins worried about the others.

The Sun Devils, who made 11-of-22 3-pointers against Stanford on Wednesday, stretched their lead to 11 at 37-26 after Evan Gordon made two threes and Gilling hit another on consecutive possessions.

Carson's two free throws gave ASU a 41-28 lead before Jordan Adams' three and Muhammad's follow at the buzzer made it 41-33 at half. Muhammad had four points on five field goal attempts in the first half.

Bachynksi had 14 points at half and Carson had 11.


NOTES:
ASU's Carson and UCLA's Muhammad were thePac-12's co-freshmen of the year as selected by league coaches. Muhammad (18.3 points a game) and Carson (18.3) were tied for the NCAA Division 1 scoring lead among freshmen after Carson's 34-point game in the Sun Devils' first-round victory over Stanford. ... UCLA senior transfer guard Larry Drew II set a school season assists record (239) in the regular-season finale at Washington last Saturday, passing Pooh Richardson (236). ... Carson's 34 points Wednesday was the most by a freshman in Pac-12 tournament history. ... ASU 7-foot-2 center Jordan Bachynski entered the game two blocked shots short of the Pac-12 record of 115, set by former ASU and Los Angeles Lakers forward Mario Bennett (115) in 1994-95.