Travis Wear Leads UCLA To Their 9th Straight Win
BOULDER, Colo. (AP)Travis Wear scored 14 of his career-high 23 points in the second half and Jordan Adams' two free throws with 7 seconds left sealed UCLA's ninth straight victory, 78-75 over Colorado on Saturday.
Adams finished with 18 points for UCLA (14-3, 4-0 Pac-12). Shabazz Muhammad added 14 and Kyle Anderson 12 for the Bruins, whose winning streak is their longest since a 10-game streak in 2008-09.
UCLA, coming off a season-low 57-point scoring output, improved to 6-1 all-time against the Buffaloes.
Spencer Dinwiddie led Colorado (11-5, 1-3) with 23 points. Josh Scott and Askia Booker had 18 each for the Buffaloes, losers of three of their last four.
After a sluggish first half, UCLA took a 42-37 lead on Wear's short jumper. Booker tied it at 42 with a 3-pointer.
Wear answered with another jumper that started a 14-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer and free throw by Adams, that pushed UCLA's lead to 58-45. Norman Powell kept it a 13-point edge with his own trey with 8:03 left, but Booker made two free throws to get Colorado back to 72-68.
Dinwiddie's 3-pointer made it 74-71, and the Buffaloes began fouling immediately after each made basket, a strategy that paid off. Adams and Muhammad made only two free throws around another basket by Booker, and Dinwiddie made an uncontested layup to get Colorado to 76-75.
Adams sank both free throws to make it 78-75. Colorado had a final chance to tie, but Booker missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Neither team was able to break free in the first half. There were four ties and 12 lead changes, and Colorado's largest lead was 23-19 after a 3-pointer by Xavier Johnson with 8:01 left.
The Bruins, meanwhile, managed first-half leads of no more than three points. The last one, 35-32, came on Wear's fadeaway in the final minute before halftime.