UCLA men’s basketball trails Arizona 43-39 at halftime
Freshman guard Lonzo Ball had nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with four assists and three rebounds, but UCLA still trailed Arizona heading into halftime. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Derrek Li
Feb. 25, 2017 6:26 p.m.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona fans at the McKale Center started dancing and rocking before the top-five matchup even started.
No. 5 UCLA (25-3, 12-3 Pac-12) quieted the crowd quickly, stringing together an 11-0 run to take a 17-11 lead over No. 4 Arizona (26-3, 15-1) in the first seven minutes and 20 seconds of the game.
However, in a game of runs, the Wildcats outscored the Bruins 7-0 in the last 1:35 of the half to take a 43-39 lead going into halftime. Arizona’s didn’t take the lead until there were just 48 seconds left, its first lead since five minutes into the game.
Sophomore guard Allonzo Trier scored a game-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting to lead the Wildcats, while freshman guard Lonzo Ball put up nine points, four assists and three rebounds in the first half.
Arizona won the rebounding battle 21-15 and held UCLA to just 26.7 percent 3-point shooting on 15 attempts.
A handful of Bruins go into the second half with two fouls: Ball, sophomore guard Aaron Holiday, junior center Thomas Welsh, freshman forward/center Ike Anigbogu and junior forward G.G. Goloman.
