No. 4 UCLA starts slowly, pulls away from Arizona State

No. 4-ranked UCLA shook off a sluggish start to remain perfect at home, overwhelming Arizona State on the defensive end en route to a 79-61 win Thursday in Los Angeles.

The Bruins (26-4, 17-2 Pac-12 Conference) won their ninth straight overall and improved to 16-0 at home -- one win away from closing out a perfect season at Pauley Pavilion -- thanks to a dominant second half.

UCLA was outscored 12-2 in the opening 4:38, but whittled away at the deficit throughout the rest of the first half.

After pulling ahead 36-32 at the break thanks to Tyger Campbell's buzzer-beating 3-pointer, the Bruins inundated Arizona State out of the locker room with runs of 14-5 and 16-5.

UCLA held the Sun Devils to just 9-of-25 shooting from the floor in the second half. Combined with the Bruins' 29 points scored off 16 Arizona State turnovers, defense powered UCLA to a lead of as many as 20 points.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. led all scorers with 26 points, including a thunderous dunk on the drive over Arizona State's Desmond Cambridge Jr. Jaquez also grabbed seven rebounds, contributing to UCLA's 47-23 advantage on the glass.

Adem Bona and Jaylen Clark led the Bruins' rebounding efforts with 11 boards each, while Amari Bailey snared nine rebounds. Clark completed a double-double with 15 points.

Campbell added 18 points for UCLA.

DJ Horne led Arizona State (20-10, 11-8) with 13 points and was 3-for-5 from 3-point range. The Sun Devils outscored UCLA 21-12 from beyond the arc, but were otherwise overmatched.

Arizona State scored just 22 points in the paint to UCLA's 36. The Sun Devils shot 12 of 20 at the foul line; the Bruins were 23 of 27.

Cambridge scored 10 points in the loss. Warren Washington added 12 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.