Jaime Jaquez Jr. shot 13-of-17 from the floor and led four Bruins scorers in double-figures with a season-high 27 points, as No. 19-ranked UCLA routed visiting Bellarmine, 81-60, Sunday in Los Angeles.
Jaquez’s best offensive performance of the season, which also included a game-high seven rebounds, powered an efficient Bruins attack.
UCLA (5-2) shot a season-best 60.8 percent from the floor at 31-of-51 and finished with 28-of-35 shooting from inside the 3-point arc. The Bruins scored 25 of their 31 made field goals off of assists, including a season-high 10 points from Tyger Campbell.
Campbell added 10 points despite shooting 2-of-8 from the floor. He was the sole UCLA starter to connect on fewer than 50 percent of his field-goal attempts. Amari Bailey went 5-of-9 en route to 12 points.
Bailey also dished a career-high eight assists and matched Jaquez’s game-high four steals. The takeaways were part of 20 total Bellarmine turnovers, which the Bruins converted into 30 points.
Adem Bona notched his own career-high of 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. David Singleton rounded out the UCLA starting five with five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.
Singleton started in place of Jaylen Clark, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder on the season at 15.7 points per game and 7.7 boards per game, who was a late scratch from the lineup due to a non-COVID illness.
Bellarmine (2-5) dropped its fourth straight with Sunday’s loss, all part of a grueling road trip that includes visits to three of college basketball’s all-time most winning programs: Duke, UCLA and Kentucky.
The Knights shot 11-of-32 from 3-point range but were hamstrung due to the high volume of turnovers and inability to score on the interior. Bellarmine attempted 22 field goals inside the arc and got to the foul line six times.
The Knights went 3-of-6 from the free-throw stripe, compared to 16-of-22 for UCLA. Ben Johnson led Bellarmine with 20 points, while Curt Hopf added 16 points.
–Field Level Media
