Campbell scores 17, No. 5 UCLA pulls away to beat Cal 60-52

Updated Jan. 8, 2022 10:09 p.m. ET

Associated Press

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Tyger Campbell scored 17 points, Johnny Juzang made a clutch 3-pointer late despite his worst shooting performance of the season, and No. 5 UCLA beat California 60-52 on Saturday night.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 14 points as the Bruins (10-1, 2-0 Pac-12) made a victorious return to conference play after missing nearly a month due to COVID-19 issues.

Juzang, UCLA’s leading scorer and a preseason All-American, missed six of his first seven shots but drained a 3-pointer to put the Bruins ahead 55-43. Juzang had reached double figures in 17 consecutive games dating to last season, but finished Saturday with nine points.

Andre Kelly had 22 points and six rebounds for California. The Golden Bears (9-7, 2-3) have lost nine straight against their intrastate rivals.

UCLA methodically pulled away in the second half after the Bruins missed their first six shots coming out of halftime.

Juzang put UCLA ahead 49-39 after Cody Riley intercepted a pass by Grant Anticevich and fed it to Campbell, who found Juzang under the basket for the layup. Campbell followed with a 3-pointer to make it 52-39.

Campbell and Jaquez keyed a 15-5 run late in the first half. Campbell aggressively attacked the basket and spun around defenders to score while Jaquez powered in from down low to help the Bruins lead 31-25.

PLAY TO REMEMBER

Shepherd made a terrific defensive play to get a block from behind on Juzang’s attempt in the key, then took the ball the other way and scored to pull Cal within 31-29 early in the second half.

BIG PICTURE

UCLA: The Bruins had to overcome early problems on the board and a hit-and-miss offense that sputtered early. But coach Mick Cronin’s team stuck to its defensive principles and improved to 22-3 over the last two seasons when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer. UCLA has won four straight since its only loss of the season against then-No. 1 Gonzaga in November.

California: The Bears have dropped back-to-back home games after winning their previous nine at Haas Pavilion. Coach Mark Fox’s team has shown distinct improvements on defensive this season and proved it by holding the Pac-12’s top 3-point shooting team to 4 of 18 beyond the arc. The problem continues to be inconsistencies on offense.

UP NEXT

UCLA: Hosts Oregon on Thursday.

California: At Washington on Wednesday.

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25