WILDCATS WIN
Ayton’s 2nd-half surge lifts Wildcats to Pac-12 tourney title game
Arizona coach Sean Miller watches his Wildcats beat UCLA 78-67 in overtime Friday night to advance to tonight’s Pac-12 tournament championship. Go to
LAS VEGAS – Allonzo Trier drove the lane and forced up a contested shot at the rim. The ball rolled off, but Deandre Ayton was there, just as he had been throughout the entire second half and overtime.
The 7-foot 1 freshman tipped the ball in with two hands, turned, clenched his fists and let out a yell.
This is what a top NBA draft pick looks like. This is how a Pac-12 Player of the Year performs. Ayton scored Arizona’s first seven points of overtime, lifting topseed Arizona over fourth-seed UCLA 78-67 in an intense Pac-12 Tournament semifinal Friday night at TMobile Arena.
The Wildcats (26-7) advance to Saturday’s tournament championship, where they’ll face the winner of Friday’s late semifinal between second-seeded USC and sixth-seeded Oregon. UCLA dropped to 21-11.
After a quiet performance in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Colorado, Ayton erupted against the Bruins, scoring a season-high 32 points, 25 coming in the second half and overtime. The freshman forward made 13 of 16 from the field and grabbed 14 rebounds. Put simply, he was dominant.
After fighting to force overtime, UCLA did not score in the extra session, getting outscored 11-0.
In addition to Ayton, sophomore Rawle Alkins had 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior Parker Jackson-
Cartwright added 11 points and played strong defense on UCLA star Aaron Holiday, who had to work for every one of his 15 points.
Trailing 30-26 at halftime, Arizona opened the second half with different energy. Eighty-nine seconds is all it took for UCLA’s Steve Alford to recognize the tide had turned. A coach just knows these things, and Alford, in his 869th game, is no newbie.
After watching Prince Ali lose the ball in the lane, Alford dropped his head and then watched as JacksonCartwright scored in transition for a 31-30 lead. “Right here,” Alford said, pointing to the court right in front of him.
Holiday dribbled to the spot and called time. Over the next 13 minutes, UCLA hung tough, falling behind by seven but never fading. With five minutes to go, Trier missed a 3-pointer and UCLA freshman Kris Wilkes hammered home a dunk, knotting the contest, 60-60.
From there, the game teetered. Ayton scored inside for a 65-62 lead. UCLA senior Thomas Welsh – steady all night with 17 points and 17 rebounds – tied the contest with a 3-pointer.
With 1:12 left, Arizona senior Dusan Ristic missed a short jumper but Ayton tipped it in. After the teams traded empty possessions, UCLA freshman Jaylen Hands scored on a contested drive to knot the contest with 8.3 seconds left.
Arizona committed a turnover. Holiday missed a running 3 at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.