LOS ANGELES — Adem Bona’s high-flying dunks had the arena rocking early, but it was Sebastian Mack and Lazar Stefanovic’s strong play late that helped the UCLA men’s basketball team recover from blowing a 14-point, second-half lead and hold off Colorado for a 64-60 win on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins (14-11 overall, 9-5 Pac-12) won their sixth consecutive game and took over sole possession of third place in the conference, passing idle Oregon with their eighth win in nine games since starting the season 6-10.
Leading 63-60 with 17 seconds to go, UCLA’s defense held up by forcing Colorado senior forward Tristan da Silva into an off-balance layup before UCLA was awarded possession of the ball after multiple players dove on the floor for a loose ball with 3.3 seconds to go. Stefanovic was fouled with 2.1 seconds remaining and made his second of two free throws, which iced the four-point victory.
“At the end of the day we got the job done,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said postgame. “Obviously, this time has grown up a lot… late in the game we got the job done on the defensive end.”
Mack, a freshman guard from Chicago, finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Bona had 14 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore guard Dylan Andrews added 13 points, eight in the first half.
UCLA opened the second half with five straight points for its largest lead of the game, but the Buffs worked to erase it. Colorado, who only played seven players against the Bruins, twice tied the score, first on a dunk by da Silva and then at 54-54 on his 3-pointer.
“I told the guys we have to play offense,” Cronin said. “We can’t just start looking for the game to end.”
Mack (four) and Lazar Stefanovic (five) combined to score every point during a 9-2 run for the Bruins, who took a 63-56 lead with 2:11 left.
“Basketball is a game full of runs so a team is going to go on their run but at the same time we still have to stay poised and know that our run is coming soon,” Andrews said. “It’s a game full of runs. It’s going to happen but we have to make sure we’re all together on a string and get ready for the next possession.”
“I feel like a big part of that is we stayed together,” Mack added. “We didn’t hang out heads when were down and they came back on their run but I feel like we came even closer and I feel like that’s why we were able to get the job done.”
Colorado senior center Eddie Lampkin Jr.’s layup made it 63-58 with 1:53 remaining, then freshman forward Cody Williams’ layup cut the margin to 63-60 with 52 seconds remaining.
KJ Simpson, a junior guard from nearby Chaminade High, blocked a Dylan Andrews jumper out of bounds, then with the shot clock running down, Stefanovic missed a desperation 3-point attempt in front of his own bench, which would have made it a two-possession game. Colorado called a timeout as UCLA held its 63-60 lead with 17 seconds left.
Williams scored 18 points and Da Silva had 16 for the Buffaloes (16-9, 7-7), who have lost two in a row and four of five. Lampkin had 12 points.
Colorado came out early in a disruptive trapping defense, which forced UCLA coach Mick Cronin to call a timeout less than three minutes into the game. The Bruins trailed 8-5 but responded with a 7-0 run courtesy of two baskets by Mack and a 3-pointer by Andrews, which put UCLA up 12-8. The Bruins made their first six attempts from the field.
Bona left with 12:46 remaining in the first half after crashing hard to the floor while pursuing a loose ball. After being looked over by the team’s medical staff, he checked back into the game less than 90 seconds later.
The 6-foot-10 sophomore power forward shook off the injury scare with a pair of thunderous dunks in a 59-second span, which gave UCLA momentum and a 27-20 lead with 8:01 to go in the first. First, Bona blocked J’Vonne Hadley and Will McClendon grabbed the defensive rebound and fed Bona for a dunk at the other end. Julian Hammond III then turned the ball over and Bona dunked off McClendon’s alley-oop pass to beat the shot clock.
Mack’s crossover and isolation jumper gave the Bruins their first double-digit lead of the game 30-20 with 5:31 left in the first.
Colorado used a 5-0 run to get within 30-25, but 7-foot-3 freshman center Aday Mara’s sky hook ended the mini-surge. Andrews’ buzzer-beating layup gave UCLA a 38-29 lead at halftime. Mack had 11 points in the first half.
Bona’s three-point play through traffic gave the Bruins their 14-point advantage at 43-29 with 18:31 left in the second half, but the Buffaloes methodically cut into UCLA’s lead from there. Lampkin’s bruising layup cut the Bruins advantage to 50-46 with 8:54 left in the second. A 3-pointer by Williams cut UCLA’s lead to 51-49 at the 7:59 mark before da Silva’s dunk tied the score for the first time.
UP NEXT
UCLA will play four of its six remaining regular-season games at home, starting with Sunday’s contest against Utah at 4 p.m.