LAS VEGAS β Deandre Ayton scored a season-high 32 points and added 14 rebounds to lead Arizona into the Pac-12 Tournament championship game with a 78-67 win over UCLA in overtime Friday at T-Mobile Arena.
The Wildcats held the Bruins for the entire overtime period while Ayton scored their first eight points, thrilling a crowd that was heavily tilted in Arizona's favor.
The win avenged UA's 82-74 win over UCLA at McKale Center last month while moving top-seeded Arizona (26-7) into the Pac-12 Tournament championship at 8 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Fridayβs late semifinal between USC and Oregon. UCLA dropped to 21-11, still expected to get one of the last remaining NCAA Tournament seeds.
Arizona held the Bruins to just 39.7-percent shooting after allowing them to shoot 51.6 percent in UCLA's win at McKale. While Ayton's double-double tied the UA season record of 22 set by Al Fleming in 1974-75, Parker Jackson-Cartwright added 11 points and four assists while making 3 of 5 3-pointers.
Allonzo Trier was only 2 of 13 for Arizona, making just 2 of 10 3-pointers, but UCLA's Aaron Holiday was similarly off, going 3 of 12 from 3-point range while scoring 15 points. Holiday has played all but three minutes of UCLA's last seven games and appeared to tire late in Friday's game.
Center Thomas Welsh led UCLA with 17 points and 17 rebounds.
At the end of regulation, Welsh hit a 3-pointer with 1:53 left to tie the game at 65 but Ayton made a rebound basket to give Arizona a 67-65 lead entering the final minute.
Jaylen Hands drove in for a layup with eight seconds left to tie it at 67 and then UCLA had a final chance to win after UAβs Rawle Alkins was called for traveling before he threw up an errant 25-footer with 1.9 seconds left.
Kris Wilkes inbounded to Holiday just over the midcourt line, and Holiday drove for a 30-footer that squeezed between the rim and backboard but did not fall in.
Down by four at halftime, Arizona opened the second half on an 18-8 run, hitting seven of its first nine shots from the field, including two 3-pointers from Jackson-Cartwright. That gave the Wildcats a 44-38 lead with 15:35 left and the Wildcats kept leads of two possessions or more throughout the middle fo the second half.
But a layup from Hands through the UA defense cut Arizonaβs lead to 55-52 entering the final eight minutes. The Wildcats made just 1 of 10 field goals heading into the final five minutes, allowing UCLA to tie the game at 60 after Allonzo Trier missed a 3-pointer and Kris Wilkes raced downcourt and dunked over him with 4:45 left.
In the first half, UCLA took a 30-26 lead by outrebounding UA 22-13, with six offensive rebounds. Welsh had 11 rebounds alone for the Bruins, while Ayton had seven points and six rebounds.
UA was 3 of 13 from 3-point range while UCLA was 4 of 16. Overall, the Bruins shot just 37.5 percent from the field while Arizona made 40.7 percent.Β
UCLA took an early 11-6 lead when the Bruins hit three of their first five 3-point shots while keeping Ayton scoreless until he hit a 3-pointer with 13:26 left in the half to cut UCLAβs lead to 15-11.
Arizona then pulled within 17-16 after Keanu Pinder hit an eight-footer and later drew a foul off a no-look pass from Ayton, hitting 1 of 2 ensuing free throws.
But the Bruins went ahead 22-16 after Hands hit a 13-foot jumper and Chris Smith made a 3 in front of the UA bench with 7:20 left. At that point, UCLA had hit 4 of 12 3s while UA was just 1 of 8. UCLA was also outrebounding UA 15-10 then.
Arizona went on a 7-0 run to take a brief 23-22 lead but then was scoreless for nearly three minutes while UCLA carried a lead into halftime.
