UCLA
14-7, 5-4
California
7-14, 1-7
UCLA Defeats California, 70-57
January 25, 2018 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – Aaron Holiday scored a team-leading 21 points to help the UCLA men's basketball team defeat California, 70-57, in a Pac-12 contest on Thursday night.
The Bruins (14-7, 5-4 Pac-12) used an 18-0 scoring run midway through the first half and entered the locker room at halftime with a 38-31 cushion.
Cal's Justice Sueing led the Golden Bears (7-14, 1-7) with 24 points, as he connected on 8 of 17 shots from the field and 4 of 9 three-point attempts.
UCLA's Jaylen Hands had 14 points and Kris Wilkes finished with 10 to round out the Bruins' list of double-figure scorers.
The Bruins trailed by 13 points – 27-14 – at the 9:50 mark in the first half when senior center Thomas Welsh went to the locker room with a left knee sprain. At that point in the contest, UCLA scored 16 consecutive points as part of an 18-0 run to take a 32-27 lead.
After halftime, California came back to regain the lead at the 11:58 mark on a three-point basket from Sueing. The Bruins responded with a 6-0 scoring run and pulled ahead, 51-47. Welsh nailed a three-pointer to cap a 9-2 scoring run as the Bruins led, 54-49, with 6:42 remaining. An ensuing fast-break dunk by Hands brought the Pauley Pavilion faithful to their feet as UCLA surged ahead, 58-51.
Through the game's final five minutes, UCLA's cushion never fell to fewer than seven points.
California outrebounded UCLA, 41-34, as the Golden Bears' big man Kingsley Okoroh totaled 14 points – including eight offensive boards.
Wilkes finished with a team-leading seven rebounds for UCLA, while Welsh totaled seven points and five rebounds after having missed some time being evaluated by medical staff late in the first half.
UCLA will return to action against Stanford (11-10, 5-4 Pac-12) on Saturday evening in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (PT). UCLA's game against Stanford will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
