No. 12 UCLA avoids late collapse, beats Arizona State

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the memory of their triple-overtime loss at Arizona State still fresh two weeks later, the UCLA Bruins weren’t about to let the rematch slip away on their home court.

Jaylen Clark had 16 points and nine rebounds in his third straight start and the 12th-ranked Bruins avoided a second-half collapse to beat the Sun Devils 66-52 on Monday night for their 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.

“Unless it stayed over 10, I knew it was coming,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.

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.

“We really started to ramp up the defense,” said Jules Bernard, who had 16 points and made all seven of his free throws. “We just really picked up our intensity.”

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

Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bruins.

Clark made some crowd-pleasing plays, highlighted by a steal and fast-break dunk in the final 30 seconds. His steal and fast-break layup were part of UCLA’s 18-10 run to close the first half.

“I feel like for this team I’m the Energizer bunny,” Clark said. “I try to be as animated as possible after making crazy plays like that just to get everybody going. I love taking the ball and going down lighting up.”

Johnny Juzang returned to score 10 points after missing Saturday’s game against Washington with a hip injury when he fell off a