Tyler Bilodeau scored 19 points, Aday Mara came off the bench to register his second career double-double and UCLA held off a furious, late-game rally in a 73-69 win over Northwestern on Monday in Evanston, Ill.
UCLA (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten Conference) went on an 8-0 run late in the second half, building a 12-point lead that gave the Bruins a double-digit cushion for most of the game’s final five minutes.
Trailing by 14 with three minutes remaining in regulation, the Wildcats (16-14, 7-12) went on a 13-0 run. Ty Berry erupted for seven points in just 25 seconds, capping the Northwestern burst with a layup to pull the Wildcats to within 68-67 with 21 seconds remaining.
Skyy Clark split his free-throw attempts after Northwestern sent him to the foul line on the ensuing possession, giving the Wildcats the ball down by two. Their hope of completing the rally ended when William Kyle III came away with a steal from Nick Martinelli, and Clark and Eric Dailey Jr. put the game away at the charity stripe.
Dailey finished with 12 points to help UCLA snap Northwestern’s three-game winning streak. Dailey also grabbed six rebounds.
Clark finished with 10 points, four rebounds and seven assists, including one to Bilodeau during a sequence when UCLA built its 14-point lead. Bilodeau and Clark executed a perfect pick-and-roll, culminating in Clark snapping a bounce pass to the cutting Bilodeau for his second dunk in as many possessions.
He flushed another when Dylan Andrews drew a double-team and threw a no-look pass to Bilodeau at the rim.
Mara finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds — six offensive — in 16 minutes.
Berry led Northwestern with 22 points, shooting 4-for-9 from 3-point range. Berry also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Martinelli scored 20 points, K.J. Windham added 10 points and Jordan Clayton went for seven assists and six rebounds.
–Field Level Media
