Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Dylan Andrews went 7-for-9 from 3-point range on his way to a career-high 31 points and No. 5 seed UCLA dispatched 12th-seeded Oregon State 67-57 in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
UCLA (16-16) closed the first half on a 12-2 run, giving the Bruins a cushion that they maintained throughout the entire second half. The lead swelled to as many as 15 points before Oregon State chipped away.
The Beavers (13-19) pulled within four points with 9:46 remaining in regulation on back-to-back 3-pointers by Dexter Akanno and Jordan Pope.
Andrews, however, provided an answer.
His fifth triple of the game with 9:30 remaining came off an Adem Bona assist. Andrews hit his sixth via another Bona assist with 5:37 to go, opening up a 10-point lead and continuing the dominant theme of the game.
The inside-outside combination of Bona and Andrews combined to score 25 of the Bruins’ 34 first-half points — 13 from Andrews, 12 from Bona.
Bona finished with 17 points on the day, also grabbing six rebounds and nabbing two steals. Andrews swiped three steals, doing his part to help UCLA score 20 points off 12 Oregon State turnovers.
Andrews also did it all offensively. Thanks in part to his four assists, he was in on 41 of UCLA’s total points. He capped his personal-best scoring performance with his seventh 3-pointer, following up a long distance make by teammate Lazar Stefanovic, and made a pair of free throws late to surpass the 30-point mark for the first time in his career.
Pope led Oregon State with 16 points, Akanno added 14 and Tyler Bilodeau chipped in 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor as the Beavers finished their third straight sub-.500 season since advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
–Field Level Media