Donovan Dent scored 20 points and UCLA continued its mastery of Arizona State with a wire-to-wire 90-77 victory on Wednesday night in nonconference play at Los Angeles.
Skyy Clark added 18 points on a season-high-tying six 3-pointers as the Bruins (8-3) made a season-best 14 treys (in 26 attempts). Tyler Bilodeau also scored 18 points as UCLA defeated its former Pac-12 rival for the sixth straight meeting and ninth in the past 10.
Anthony “Pig” Johnson made all 14 of his free-throw attempts while scoring 20 points for the Sun Devils (9-3). Arizona State made its first 25 free throws until Maurice Odom missed the team’s last one with 1:02 left.
Massamba Diop had 15 points and seven rebounds and Andrija Grbovic added 13 points, six rebounds and three steals for the Sun Devils.
UCLA shot 46.8% from the field and held an 18-8 edge in fastbreak points.
Arizona State connected on 40% of its attempts and was a shaky 4 of 26 from behind the arc.
UCLA led by 12 at halftime and quickly pushed the lead to 55-39 on a 3-pointer by Jamar Brown with 16:13 left.
Arizona State responded with a 13-4 push. Allen Mukeba’s layup and four straight free throws by Johnson pulled the Sun Devils within 59-52 with 12:03 remaining.
Arizona State cut its deficit to 65-60 on a three-point play by Johnson with 9:39 left.
UCLA answered with 3-pointers by Trent Perry and Clark to increase the lead to 11 with 8:48 left.
The Sun Devils trailed by six as the clock dipped under seven minutes to play. Brown and Clark then drained 3-pointers 32 seconds apart as the Bruins led 78-66 with 6:12 remaining.
Bilodeau scored seven straight UCLA points to make it 88-72 with 1:56 remaining and UCLA closed it out.
Dent scored 13 first-half points as the Bruins led 45-33 at the break. Diop had 11 in the half for Arizona State.
UCLA scored the first seven points and later rattled off 10 straight to take a 15-point lead. Clark and Brown buried treys to end the latter burst and give the Bruins a 24-9 advantage with 9:16 remaining.
The Sun Devils crept within six late in the half before Dent and Clark buried 3-pointers to make it a 12-point halftime cushion.
