Jaylen Clark hit the game-winning 3-pointer and drew an offensive foul to help the Bruins avoid a crushing collapse against the Trojans.
It didn’t seem like the Bruins were going to need late-game heroics to down the Trojans on Thursday, but that’s exactly what they got from Jaylen Clark.
And in typical Jaylen Clark fashion, he got it done on both sides of the floor to close out the win.
No. 10 UCLA men’s basketball (14-2, 5-0 Pac-12) blew an 18-point halftime lead against crosstown rival USC (11-5, 3-2), but still held on to win 60-58 at Pauley Pavilion. Clark won it for the Bruins, hitting the game-winning 3-pointer on a second-chance opportunity with 15 seconds left on the clock before drawing an offensive foul on the other end.
The raucous home crowd that had been slowly silenced over the previous 20 minutes of game action could finally erupt once again, celebrating their team’s third consecutive win over their crosstown rival.
Clark’s 3-pointer was the first field goal from a Bruin not named Jaime Jaquez Jr. in the second half. UCLA’s star senior did most of the heavy lifting to try and keep USC at a distance, scoring 10 points after the break, but the lack of scoring support is why the game got so close down the stretch.
The Bruins led for 38:11, compared to the Trojans’ mere 39 seconds playing from ahead, and they have their dominant first half to thank for that.
After guard Boogie Ellis hit a jumper on the opening possession of the game, the Bruins completely took over. Clark drained a corner 3, and center Adem Bona ferociously blocked a shot before running the floor and throwing down a fast break slam on the other end.
UCLA followed that up with a 13-0 run, featuring a pair of triples from guard David Singleton and another from guard Dylan Andrews. Meanwhile, USC missed six shots in a row.
The one-sided nature of the opening 10 minutes went beyond shooting numbers, though, as the Bruins reeled in 13 of the first 17 available rebounds. UCLA was racking up the second-chance points and 3-pointers, building up an 18-4 lead in the process.
Even when USC shook off the slow start with a few makes in a row, Singleton and guard Tyger Campbell hit a pair of 3s and Jaquez swished a turnaround jumper to stay ahead by double digits.
Guard Drew Peterson answered with a triple of his own that cut the lead to eight, but got called for a technical foul after yelling at the UCLA bench. That sparked a 9-0 run for the Bruins, with Singleton hitting both technical free throws and Clark sinking all three of his attempts after drawing a foul on a long ball.
UCLA went into the half up 44-26 thanks to another Campbell 3-pointer, and they needed every bit of that cushion.
The two teams traded buckets in the opening minutes, and then the Trojans went on a 12-4 run to make it an eight-point game. Multiple Bruins got into foul trouble, and that helped the Trojans get into a rhythm on both ends of the floor.
Coming out of a timeout, Jaquez’s bounce pass to Campbell got picked off and led to USC’s first points off a turnover all night. USC followed that up with a 3-pointer, which only came to be because Bona got called for a travel.
Jaquez stopped the run with a layup, followed by a free throw a minute later, but he missed his next free attempts from the line and the Trojans continued to chip away at the lead. Three more buckets by USC made it 53-51.
It took a 3-pointer by Jaquez at the end of the shot clock for the Bruins to create some much-needed breathing room, but a bang-bang goaltend against the backboard by Bona let the Trojans back into it.
USC got another shot to fall, then a 1-for-2 trip to the line tied it up with 1:23 left on the clock tied it up. Jaquez had a chance to put UCLA back up, but his layup rolled off the rim. Guard Reese Dixon-Waters responded by hitting a turnaround jumper with 32 seconds left to give the Trojans their first lead since the opening minute.
Jaquez drove right on what wound up being the deciding possession, and he kicked out to Clark for a straightaway 3-pointer. Clark actually missed it, but Singleton got the offensive rebound and kicked it right back to him for the go-ahead bucket.
An illegal screen led to a turnover by USC, but Singleton went 1-for-2 at the line while trying to close it out. It wouldn’t have been unprecedented for UCLA to allow a buzzer beater and get dealt a crushing loss to its crosstown rival, since that’s exactly how the 2020 and 2021 regular season finales finished.
Instead, the Bruins got the stop and held onto their two-point lead in the final seconds, securing their 11th win in a row as a result.
Before Clark’s game-winner, UCLA was shooting 4-for-21 in the second half, with Jaquez alone going 4-for-9. The Bruins went 4-for-10 at the line, and they only had one point off a turnover in the final 20 minutes of action.
All four of UCLA’s starters finished with eight or more points, and Clark led the way with 15.
UCLA has a week off to catch its breath and get its offense right before returning with a Jan. 12 contest against Utah. That game will tip off at Pauley Pavilion at 8 p.m., and it will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
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