No. 2 Arizona tops No. 13 UCLA 84-76 to win Pac-12 title

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Arizona clanged shots, threw weak passes, watched UCLA build what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. Then the Wildcats found a gear few teams have — maybe no other team has.

Now they're Pac-12 champions, a likely No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday and among the favorites to win the national championship.

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Not bad for a team in its first season under a new coach.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 27 points and No. 2 Arizona used a massive second-half run to beat No. 13 UCLA 84-76 on Saturday night, winning the Pac-12 Tournament in coach Tommy Lloyd's first season.

"These games are long and we're a team that makes runs," Lloyd said. "I'm always like, ‘Hang in there, hang in there, we could be a possession or two away from a run.’ We did a good job of hanging in there."

The Wildcats and Bruins put on a Vegas headlining show worthy of the conference's top two seeds, trading athletic plays and big runs at the first full-capacity Pac-12 Tournament in three years.

The top-seeded Wildcats (31-4) played their second straight game without point guard Kerr Kriisa due to a sprained right ankle suffered in the quarterfinals against Stanford. His replacement, Justin Kier, was limited to 13 minutes due to foul trouble, depleting Arizona’s depth even more.

Arizona labored without Kriisa and Kier, falling into an 12-point hole early in the second half before revving up one of the nation's best offenses. The Wildcats went on a 22-5 run to lead 63-58 and fire up the McKale Center north (T-Mobile Arena) crowd.

Arizona kept its offensive Strip show rolling to sweep the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles for the