UCLA trails Oregon 52-47 at halftime
Junior Thomas Welsh scored UCLA’s first eight points in his first game back from a bruised right knee. The center finished the half with 12 points and four rebounds, but the Bruins trail the Oregon Ducks by five. (Jintak Han/Assistant Photo editor)
By TuAnh Dam
Dec. 28, 2016 7:22 p.m.
EUGENE, Ore — Fast-tempo, efficient three-point shooting and splitting the defense for easy buckets.
No. 21 Oregon (11-2) stole a page from the UCLA (13-0) handbook to take a 52-47 lead over the No. 2 team in the country at halftime.
The Ducks combined their usual brand of swarming defense with one of their best shooting games of the year to give the Bruins their first halftime deficit of the year.
The longer, more athletic defenders forced seven turnovers and converted them into 13 points.
Senior forward Dillon Brooks led the way with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting to help Oregon jump out to a 12-point lead with a minute in the half.
Brooks and the Ducks took advantage of the mismatch against senior guard Bryce Alford on the perimeter, nailing 7-of-14 from beyond the arc despite averaging just 6.5 a game.
UCLA, which coach Steve Alford said would try to launch roughly 30 3s a game, only shot 36.4 percent from long range.
Despite their shooting woes, the Bruins wouldn’t go down, snatching momentum away from the defending Pac-12 champions and the energized crowd at Matthew Knight Arena in the waning seconds.
A flagrant foul call on the Ducks’ junior forward Kavell Bigby-Williams helped the visitors close the gap heading into the locker room.
Junior Thomas Welsh had 12 points and four rebounds in his first game back from a bruised right knee, including drilling both flagrant free throws.
Alford hit the subsequent three-pointer, just UCLA’s fourth of the half, to cut the lead to five.
