UCLA
29-4
Arizona
29-4
UCLA Falls to Arizona in Pac-12 Semifinals
March 10, 2017 | Men's Basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. โ Isaac Hamilton scored a team-leading 20 points as No. 3-seed UCLA dropped an 86-75 decision to No. 2-seed Arizona before a record crowd of 19,224 in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday night.
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In the rubber match of a hotly-contested season series between the two Pac-12 programs, Arizona raced to a 41-35 halftime lead and pushed its advantage to 15 points โ 63-48 โ with 13:22 left in regulation.
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Arizona's Lauri Markkanen tallied a game-high 29 points and Allonzo Trier scored 20 to pace the Wildcats (29-4), who will face No. 1-seed Oregon in the conference's tournament title game on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
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Hamilton led the Bruins (29-4) in scoring for the second consecutive game. TJ Leaf had 15 points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
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UCLA shot 40.7% from the field (24-59) and made just 16% of its three-point field goal attempts (4-25). Both of those percentages were season-lows for the Bruins.
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Arizona shot 50% overall and made 10 of 20 shots from three-point range.
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In the first half, UCLA jumped ahead to an 11-5 lead led 13-8 before Arizona ran off six unanswered points while keeping the Bruins scoreless for over five minutes. Aaron Holiday broke the field goal drought at the 10:32 mark with a three-pointer that put UCLA ahead, 17-14, but Arizona went on an 8-0 run to take a 27-20 advantage.
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UCLA answered with a 7-0 scoring run before Arizona closed the opening half with a pair of three-pointers, pushing the Wildcats' margin to 41-35 by halftime.
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Arizona continued its momentum in the second half, jumping ahead by 11 points โ 53-42 โ with 15:29 to play. The Wildcats held the double-digit advantage for the next four minutes until Lonzo Ball hit a three-pointer while being fouled with 11:20 to play. Ball's ensuing free throw to complete the four-point play closed the gap to nine, 63-54.
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The Wildcats followed with an 8-3 run, extending their cushion to 71-57.
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UCLA never got closer the rest of the way, as the Bruins saw their 10-game win streak come to an end.
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The Bruins will wait for Selection Sunday (March 12) to learn their NCAA Tournament fate. This season, UCLA defeated every team on its schedule and won a school-record-tying 28 regular-season games.
