By KALANI TAKASE The Associated Press
HONOLULU — On a night when UCLA struggled to sustain any kind of offensive rhythm, the last thing the Bruins needed was an opponent who seemingly could not miss.
Anton Watson scored a career-high 32 points on nearly perfect shooting and No. 11 Gonzaga held off UCLA, 69-65, on Wednesday night in the fifth-place game at the Maui Invitational.
The Bulldogs (4-1) led by 13 in the first half before staving off a late charge from the Bruins (4-2) in the finale of a Thanksgiving week tournament that featured five teams ranked among the top 11 in the nation.
Watson shot 14 for 15 from the field, including 3 for 3 from 3-point range, and grabbed seven rebounds. The 6-foot-8 graduate forward poured in 25 points after halftime. His previous career best was 23 points against Portland on Jan. 9, 2021.
“It really just felt good,” Watson said. “I was talking to my brother a lot and I just kind of told him that I just needed to see the first one go through, and I was just being aggressive and they kind of gave me some open shots and I just kept it rolling. So yeah, just being aggressive, that’s been kind of key this whole year for me and this was the game to do it.”
Sebastian Mack and Lazar Stefanovic had 16 points apiece to lead the Bruins, who shot 35% from the field and struggled with foul trouble in a game that saw 51 combined fouls called.
“We’ve got a lot to fix, but I like the way our guys never gave up despite the fact that we didn’t make a lot of shots and Watson had a great night,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.
UCLA cut its deficit to three on a Stefanovic 3-pointer with 56 seconds left, then got the ball back after trapping Ryan Nembhard, leading to a steal by Ilane Fibleuil.
“You think you’re going to win,” Stefanovic said of the late momentum.
But Dylan Andrews missed a jumper and Mack missed a contested layup on consecutive possessions, ending any chances of completing the comeback. Gonzaga’s Ben Gregg hit a free throw to make it 67-63 with 21 seconds remaining.
“Obviously, hard-fought game,” Cronin said. “We got behind early. I thought the first, I don’t know, whether it’s eight minutes, whatever it was, our intensity wasn’t what it needed to be. From there, we started competing a lot harder and gave ourselves a chance. So obviously, take my hat off to Watson. He was dominant, carried his team to victory.”
Nembhard scored 12 points and Nolan Hickman had 11 for the Bulldogs, who shot 43% overall.
“I’m just incredibly proud of our guys,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “That was a tough, tough kind of a rock fight of a game, where both teams were just working their tails off and the A-plan wasn’t working, the B-plan wasn’t working and we had to really, really dig deep. And we did a great job of digging deep and getting those stops there at the end and making just enough plays to eke it out.”
It was the fourth time in as many seasons that the teams have squared off, several of which have been high-stakes thrillers. Gonzaga defeated UCLA, 93-90, on a half-court buzzer-beater in overtime in the 2021 NCAA Tournament semifinals, then edged the Bruins, 79-76, in the Sweet 16 last March in Las Vegas. Gonzaga has won the last four meetings.
Playing their third game in as many days, the Bruins were not a candidate to dig themselves out of early trouble.
“We had our chances,” Cronin said. “We were just digging out all night and we didn’t make enough shots to dig out, but we never quit and that’s because we got the guys in there that got it going, that kept fighting for us. So that was important.”
One of those guys, Fibleuil, might be pushing for a larger role after contributing six points, eight rebounds, two blocked shots and the key steal in his 17 minutes.
“I thought Ilane Fibleuil showed a lot of heart tonight,” Cronin said of the freshman.
The UCLA big men were in foul trouble for much of the night. Adem Bona picked up his fourth foul with 9:48 left and teammate Kenneth Nwuba fouled out just 10 seconds later.
“Sometimes his intensity, he can’t think because he’s too intense,” Cronin said of Bona, who finished with 11 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes. “It’s why he dropped a few balls because he’s anxious to dunk it. We needed those points. It happened twice.”
UCLA took a 41-40 lead early in the second half on a Bona hook shot, but the ever-present foul trouble quickly scuttled any hope of momentum. Bona picked up his third foul and joined Nwuba and Aday Mara on the bench, where that duo was already parked with four fouls and three fouls, respectively.
That forced freshmen Devin Williams and Brandon Williams into the mix, and Gonzaga followed with a 13-1 run, taking a 53-42 lead on a Watson 3-pointer.
BIG PICTURE
UCLA has nonconference matchups against Villanova and Ohio State on the horizon in its leadup to Pac-12 play. Progress will come incrementally with an inexperienced roster that features two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior in the starting lineup.
Gonzaga, picked second behind Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, rebounded from a 73-63 loss to No. 2 Purdue on Monday by winning its final two games against Power Five opponents in Hawaii.
UP NEXT
UCLA hosts UC Riverside next Thursday (Nov. 30) at 8 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.