Riley, Bruins outlast pesky Oregon State

UCLA keeps on winning, even while its margin gets tighter and tighter.

Cody Riley had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and the 23rdranked Bruins defeated pesky Oregon State for a 57-52 victory on Saturday night.

It was UCLA’s third straight game that came down to the final three minutes.

“It was another one of those games you got to grind out,” Riley said. “We didn’t panic. The game got close and we could have easily done that.”

The first-place Bruins (13-3, 9-1 Pac-12) extended their home winning streak to 16 games. They have won eight of nine overall.

“We had to be better as a team,” Riley said. “The team came with the fire.”

Riley’s jumper capped a 6-0 spurt and gave UCLA its first double-digit lead of the game with just under four minutes remaining.

The Beavers (8-7, 4-5) weren’t done yet. They responded with eight straight points to trail 5249. The Bruins had Jarod Lucas double-teamed in the corner, but he got the ball out to Warith Alatishe, who came flying through the lane for a one-handed dunk to cap the spurt.

“I loved that our guys fought and they never gave in,” Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle said in a radio interview after the game.

Clinging to a 53-50 lead, Riley missed a 3-pointer. After a timeout, OSU’s Ethan Thompson stumbled while making slight contact with Jules Bernard and lost the ball out of bounds with eight seconds to go.

The Beavers were forced to foul Tyger Campbell, who made both for a 55-50 lead.

Thompson’s layup drew the Beavers within three, but they again fouled Campbell, who made both to close out the victory.