UCLA
16-13, 9-7
USC
15-14, 8-8
UCLA Defeats USC in Overtime, 93-88
February 28, 2019 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ Jaylen Hands tallied 21 points and a game-high 10 assists as UCLA defeated USC 93-88ย in overtime on Thursday evening in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Hands buried a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc and the shot clock nearing zero to give the Bruins (16-13, 9-7) a four-point lead with 21 seconds left in the overtime period. The double-double marked his fourth of the season and first with zero turnovers.
Moses Brown added his ninth double-double, totaling 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Hands and Brown have notched double-doubles in the same game four times this season.
Jules Bernard and Kris Wilkes each added 16 points for UCLA. Bernard has now scored in double figures five times in the last six games after previously doing so just twice.
Chris Smith rounded out the Bruins' list of double-digit scorers with 13 points. He scored 11 in the second half.
"It was a great win, obviously," said UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow. "We just had a lot of players step up. Five guys in double figures, so we spread the ball around. We moved it, we had 22 assists, which is a great number. We had 14 offensive rebounds, which is a great number. USC is a really talented team, very well-coached team."Bennie Boatwright led all players with 25 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for USC (15-14, 8-8). He knocked down seven of 17 attempts from 3-point range. As a team, the Trojans made 19 of 50 from beyond the arc.
USC posted 28 assists on 34 made baskets and turned the ball over just three times.
USC got to the basket early and often in the first half, extending its lead to 16-6 on a Boatwright slam dunk. UCLA answered, though, converting four straight field goals during a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the game with 11:17 remaining. Hands drained back-to-back 3-pointers as part of the run.
The first half proved to be one of runs, as David Singleton made consecutive baskets from beyond the arc to give the Bruins a 32-26 lead. The Trojans recovered with a 12-2 flurry, though, punctuated by a Boatwright 3-pointer. UCLA outscored USC 7-0 over the final 4:24 of the half and a Bernard 3-pointer was the difference in the Bruins' 41-38 lead.
The Trojans made three of their first four 3-point attempts to open the second half, establishing a 51-48 lead. The Bruins answered in a big way, however, scoring 14 of the next 16 points.
USC continued to fire from beyond the arc, sinking three over a 53-second stretch to retake the lead at 70-68 with 6:27 to go. The lead changed hands four more times in regulation, as Hands and Boatwright alternated clutch 3-pointers before a Smith floater in the lane pulled UCLA even at 82-82 with 59 seconds on the clock. Boatwright's 3-pointer at the buzzer missed to send the game to overtime.
The Bruins scored the first five points of the extra period, but 3-pointers by Weaver and Boatwright put the Trojans down by just one point with 53 seconds remaining. Then, with the shot clock expiring and 21 seconds on the game clock, Hands knocked down a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc to put the game out of reach.
Shot clock expiring? No problem for Jaylen Hands!
โ UCLA Basketball (@UCLAMBB) March 1, 2019
Another CLUTCH 3 by @JHANDS08. #USCvsUCLA | #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/SL2ySwl5Fa
UCLA will return to action at Colorado on Thursday, March 7. Game time at CU Event Center in Boulder, Colo., is scheduled for 6 p.m., PT. The Bruins' game will be nationally televised by ESPN2.
