ASU’s 2nd half surge not enough to overcome UCLA’s hot start in road loss

LOS ANGELES — Jaylen Clark had 16 points and nine rebounds in his third straight start and No. 12 UCLA avoided a second-half collapse to beat Arizona State 66-52 on Monday night for its third consecutive win.

The Bruins (20-5, 12-4 Pac-12) led by 17 in the first half before the Sun Devils began their comeback bid.

ASU (10-16, 6-10) closed to 46-45 on a basket by Marreon Jackson that capped a 24-12 surge to open the second half.

David Singleton’s 3-pointer beat the shot clock, sparking a 14-2 run that kept UCLA ahead for good. The Bruins made five of seven free throws during that span.

DJ Horne, Jay Heath and Jackson scored nine points each for the Sun Devils, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Jules Bernard also had 16 points for the Bruins. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Johnny Juzang returned to score 10 points after missing Saturday’s game against Washington with a hip injury when he fell off a scooter. He missed his last eight shots in the Bruins’ earlier triple-overtime loss to the Sun Devils and then missed his first two Monday before scoring.

The Bruins were without Tyger Campbell, who hurt his left shoulder on the first possession of Saturday’s game against Washington but played the rest of the way. Also sitting was Peyton Watson, who sustained a left knee injury in that same game.

Horne rallied the Sun Devils within six to start the second half. With his team trailing by 13, he scored nine of its first 11 points to close to 38-32, capped by his back-to-back 3-pointers. Heath and Luther Muhammad picked up their third fouls during the same stretch.

ASU kept up the pace on offense and the Bruins went cold on their end. The Sun Devils ran off seven points in a row, with Jamiya Neal’s 3-pointer getting them to 43-39. UCLA missed six of its first eight shots in the half.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona State: The Sun Devils are trying to close out the regular season strong. Of their four remaining games, the only opponent with a winning record is Colorado. After visiting the Buffaloes and Utah, they return home to host Cal and Stanford. ASU beat Utah in the team’s previous meeting and lost to the other three schools.

UP NEXT

Arizona State: At Colorado on Thursday in the middle of a three-game trip. The Sun Devils dropped the first meeting by 18 points.