UCLA
21-12
St. Bonaventure
26-7
UCLA Falls to St. Bonaventure in Dayton, 65-58
March 13, 2018 | Men's Basketball
DAYTON, Ohio – Aaron Holiday scored a game-high 20 points, while Prince Ali added 13 points as No. 11-seed UCLA lost to No. 11-seed St. Bonaventure, 65-58, in a First Four matchup of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Holiday led UCLA (21-12) with 20 points, making 7 of 17 shots, before a near-capacity crowd of 12,336 at the University of Dayton Arena. Ali made a pair of three-pointers, including a critical three-pointer with under three minutes to play, and shot 50 percent (5-for-10) from the field.
Courtney Stockard led St. Bonaventure (26-7) with 26 points, while Matt Mobley totaled 14 points and LaDarien Griffin added 10.
UCLA finished the game having committed a season-high-tying 20 turnovers, but won the rebounding advantage against the Bonnies, 41-31.
"We've been a team over the last month that's really handled the ball well," said Steve Alford, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "And today, we had we had a lot of live-ball errant passes that I think was the difference in the game [being] 30 to three in points off turnovers. That's hard to overcome especially in an NCAA game, when you give up that many points, and it takes that away from your offense."
The Bruins trailed St. Bonaventure, 58-51, with four minutes to play in the second half. UCLA used a 7-0 scoring run to tie game at 58-58. A runner in the lane by Holiday and a three-point basket from the corner by Ali reduced UCLA's deficit to 58-56. After both teams had defensive stops, Holiday made a pair of free throws with 1:11 to play, tying the score, 58-58.
St. Bonaventure pulled away from the Bruins in the game's final minute. Jaylen Adams made a jump shot with 48 seconds to go and the Bonnies made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
UCLA entered the locker room at halftime, trailing by a 28-23 margin.
In the second half, the Bruins tied the contest by using a 7-0 scoring run around the 16-minute mark. UCLA twice pushed its second-half advantage to five points, leading 49-44 and later, 51-46, with just over seven minutes to play. St. Bonaventure used a 12-0 run to take a 58-51 lead before UCLA battled back.
Early in the game, UCLA pushed ahead 17-9 with 14:04 left in the opening half. The Bonnies responded with a strong defensive effort, limiting UCLA to just three points in the final 10 minutes of the half. St. Bonaventure tied the contest, 17-17, with 11:22 to play after a dunk by Griffin.
The Bonnies took their first lead of the game with 4:52 to play after Stockard made a free throw, putting St. Bonaventure on top, 23-22, on the midst of a 7-0 scoring run. Idris Taggee pushed St. Bonaventure ahead by five points, hitting a jump shot from the elbow in the first possession of the first half.
UCLA shot 42 percent from the floor (21-for-50) and 33 percent (10-for-30) from 3-point range, while St. Bonaventure finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field (23-for-60) and just 21 percent (4-for-19) from behind the arc.
Tuesday's game marked the Bruins' 49th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the program's 11th trip to the national tournament in the last 14 seasons.
With the win against UCLA, St. Bonaventure will travel to Dallas to face No. 6-seed Florida (20-12) in a first-round meeting of the NCAA Tournament this Thursday evening.
