Bruins beat UC Riverside on three ticks shot

The UCLA Bruins got by UC Riverside by the skin of their teeth. The Bruins won their nonleague contest, 66-65. UCLA outscored the Highlanders by two points in the first half. UC Riverside outscored the Bruins in the second period by a point, which determined the game’s outcome.

The Bruins (5-2) needed a jump shot by Dylan Andrews with three seconds in the final period to win their fifth game of the young collegiate season.

“You don’t have much time in the timeout. It was either going to be him or [Sebastian Mack],” UCLA associate head coach Darren Savino explained in his postgame remarks. “I figured [Andrews] would get downhill and make a play. So I went with him instead of [Mack] in that play. I think [Andrews] had some good moments. … I thought he did a fairly good job today, especially on offense. Defense, I still want him to improve. Dylan’s going to have to play like that in these games coming up. He’s going to have to give us some minutes and scoring.”

Nate Pickens had given UC Riverside a two-point advantage with 48 ticks left on the clock when he made two free throws. UCLA then got a free throw by Aday Mara to slice the Highlanders’ lead to one, thus setting up Andrews’ heroics for the Bruins. Andrews finished the game making 7 of 12 attempts from the field for 17 points.

“The last play we knew we didn’t have too much time on the clock, so we went to one of our plays, just a back screen, and then the coaches told me just make a play after that,” Andrews said. “So, we got what we wanted and came out with the ‘W.’”

Aside from Andrews’ game-winning shot, UCLA won this game by playing better defense in the second half of the ballgame. UC Riverside shot 50 percent from the field in the first half. It was a different story in the second period where the Bruins forced the Highlanders to convert just 38 percent of their shots from the field.

UC Riverside made just 8 of 19 shots (42 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half. The Highlanders made 6 of 13 3-point shots in the first half (46 percent). Savino said the Bruins could improve their perimeter defense a little bit more.

“I think it was mostly us losing [guys]. We just lost guys,” Savino said. “We overhelped and we stressed about being in gaps when someone gets isolated. But you can’t lung and try to steal the ball and get nothing and leave a guy wide open for a three. And we just continued to do it. That was frustrating.

“They drove a few times in the paint and we collapsed. And then they found people on the weak side. Our switching wasn’t that bad. It was pretty decent, I thought, for the most part. I’d have to watch the film again. I thought our lunging on drives and giving up open threes where we continued – and the timeouts, I told them to stop doing that. And they kept doing it. That’s what hurt us,” he added.