University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
15-12, 6-8
Colorado
19-9, 8-7
UCLA Downs Colorado, 77-53
February 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES - Isaac Hamilton made each of his first four 3-point shots and finished with 22 points to lead the UCLA basketball team past Colorado, 77-53, before 8,492 in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night.
Hamilton scored in double figures for the 23rd consecutive game, the longest such streak by any UCLA player since 2007-08, when Kevin Love scored in double figures in all 39 games.
Tony Parker returned to UCLA's starting lineup, scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds, and Bryce Alford finished with 13 points and nine assists.
“I thought that was a really good 40 minutes,” UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. “I thought we had a great team effort with 21 assists, seven turnovers. We shared the basketball, we got good shots, we shot a high percentage, and we got some of those shots against Utah [on Thursday] but didn't make them.”
The Bruins (15-12, 6-8 Pac-12) led from start to finish against Colorado (19-9, 8-7), securing a 5-0 lead before opening the margin to as many as seven points (12-5) in the game's first five minutes.
Hamilton scored 17 of his team-leading 22 points in the first half. He made 9 of 12 shots, including 4 of 6 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, and grabbed five rebounds.
UCLA led by a 30-25 margin with 4:25 to play before halftime. Hamilton nailed a 3-pointer with 4:01 remaining and Alford followed that with a 3-point shot at the 3:36 mark to give the Bruins a 36-25 cushion. Alford's ensuing 3-pointer with 39 seconds to play in the opening half helped UCLA enter the locker room at the intermission with a 44-28 advantage.
The Bruins outscored Colorado in the second half, 33-25, and never saw their lead fall to fewer than 16 points.
UCLA enters the final two weeks of its regular season with four games to play. The Bruins will hit the road this week, playing at California on Thursday evening (6 p.m.) and at Stanford on Saturday (1:30 p.m.).
The Bruins will close their regular-season schedule at home the following week with games against No. 16 Oregon on Wednesday, March 2 and Oregon State on Saturday, March 5.
