BRUINS ALONE IN FIRST WITH COMEBACK

Chris Smith scored 17 points, Tyger Campbell hit the tiebreaking jumper with 49 seconds left and UCLA dramatically rallied from a late deficit to take sole possession of the Pac-12 lead with its seventh consecutive victory, 69-64 over Arizona on Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Cody Riley and Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 11 points apiece for the Bruins (19-11, 12-5 Pac-12), who didn’t lead in the second half before Campbell hit his big shot while tumbling to the court. UCLA also forced turnovers by the Wildcats (19-10, 9-7) on three consecutive key possessions down the stretch while holding Arizona scoreless for 3:43 before Christian Koloko’s layup with two seconds to play.

Campbell had missed his first 10 shots before making the go-ahead basket.

The Bruins wrapped up their home schedule by securing a season sweep of Arizona and moving a half-game ahead of No. 14 Oregon (22-7, 11-5), which didn’t play Saturday, atop the conference standings.

UCLA has won 11 of 13 since mid-january, and its once-improbable NCAA Tournament hopes appear to be quite plausible after this tremendous late surge under first-year coach Mick Cronin. The Bruins pulled even with the Ducks on Thursday with a clutch win over Arizona State.

Arizona coach Sean Miller was ejected with 12:28 to play in a one-point game after earning his second technical foul of the night, and his Wildcats struggled in the waning moments of their third consecutive loss.

Nico Mannion had 19 points and six assists for Arizona, and Zeke Nnaji added 16 points. The Wildcats led 62-58 on Nnaji’s dunk with 3:45 to play, but they didn’t score again until Koloko’s meaningless layup.

UCLA went seven minutes between field goals before Smith’s jumper with 2:13 left made it 62-60. Smith then tied it on another turnaround jumper, and Dylan Smith turned it over for Arizona before Campbell hit the goahead shot.

Miller got his first technical foul in the first half when he became apoplectic over a no-call on a blocked layup attempt by Mannion. Miller had saliva dripping down his chin while he screamed at the officials over the call, which appeared to be correct on replays.

More Pac-12

USC 71, Arizona State 61: Jonah Mathews scored 23 points and Daniel Utomi added 19 and 10 rebounds to lead USC (21-9, 10-7) to a win over Arizona State (19-10, 10-6) in Los Angeles.

California 86, Utah 79 (OT): Matt Bradley scored six of his 21 points in overtime before fouling out, and California (13-16, 7-9) held on to beat Utah (15-14, 6-11) in Berkeley.

Mountain West

UNLV 92, San Jose State 69: Elijah Mitrou-long totaled 20 points, six rebounds and six assists to help UNLV (17-14, 12-6) rout host San Jose State (7-23, 3-15).

New Mexico 66, Utah State 64: Corey Manigault scored scored 16 points, including five in the final 44 seconds, and host New Mexico (18-13, 7-11) held on to defeat Utah State (23-8, 12-6).

Colorado State 87, Air Force 74: Kendle Moore scored 21 points on seven 3pointers as host Colorado State (20-11, 11-7) defeated Air Force (11-19, 5-13).

Fresno State 63, Wyoming 55: Jarred Hyder and Niven Hart scored 11 points each to lead Fresno State (1118, 7-11) past visiting Wyoming (7-23, 2-16).

WCC

San Francisco 69, Loyola Marymount 67: Jordan Ratinho scored 17 points and San Francisco (20-11, 9-7) held off host Loyola Marymount (1020, 4-12) in a wild finish.

Santa Clara 73, Portland 68: DJ Mitchell scored a career-high 25 points as Santa Clara (19-12, 6-10) edged Portland (9-22, 1-15) at home to end a six-game losing streak.