Trent Perry scored a career-high 30 points, Tyler Bilodeau finished with 21 points and nine rebounds and UCLA used a late run to hold off Penn State 71-60 on Wednesday in State College, Pa.
The Bruins (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) used a 15-4 spurt, during which they held the Nittany Lions scoreless for almost four minutes, to build an insurmountable lead down the stretch.
The combined 3-point shooting of Perry and Bilodeau, who each knocked down four triples, powered the UCLA offense. The duo ignited the pivotal run with back-to-back 3-pointers, and Perry connected on another, over the critical stretch.
In addition to his 4-of-8 shooting from long distance, Perry excelled at getting to the free-throw line and making Penn State pay by hitting all 12 attempts at the charity stripe. UCLA was perfect at the foul line as a team, going 21 of 21 and outdoing Penn State’s outstanding 16-of-17 free-throw shooting.
The Nittany Lions (9-8, 0-6) were much less effective from beyond the 3-point arc, going 4-of-22. Dominick Stewart, whose 16 points led Penn State, shot just 1-of-7 from outside.
Three-point shooting made the difference, with UCLA going 10 of 26 behind Bilodeau and Perry.
Wednesday marked the second time in as many games Perry led the Bruins in scoring, as he continued to pick up the slack with Skyy Clark sidelined due to a hamstring injury sustained in the Jan. 3 loss at Iowa.
Xavier Booker and Donovan Dent were scoreless for UCLA. Dent shot 0-of-6 from the floor while dealing with foul trouble and Booker was limited to 12 minutes.
Steven Jamerson II helped fill some of the scoring void with eight points off the bench. Jamerson also grabbed eight rebounds. Eli Rice scored 14 points for Penn State.
–Field Level Media
