UCLA avoids calamitous collapse to pull out 73-69 win over Northwestern

UCLA looked like they had a blown victory over Northwestern, but the Wildcats then rolled out a pack press. The Bruins survived a late surge to avoid a catastrophic collapse and eliminate a 73-69 victory.

The team went back and forth throughout the second half until the Bruins had a 12-2 run. A back-to-back dunk by Tyler Bilodeau gave UCLA a 68-54 lead with 3:07 left. Desperately, the Wildcats put pressure on the length of the court, locking up the Bruins and forcing the trio to expensive sales.

Point guard Dylan Andrews has been transformed into a Northwestern Tibery dunk. Bilodeau then moved with 26 seconds left, and the northwest took advantage of it when Berry cut the backdoor and narrowed his score to 68-67.

Berry scored nine points in the last 2:13, giving the Wildcats a chance. Northwestern had a shot to tie it together at 69, but forward Nick Martinelli flipped the ball on a drive to the basket, and KJ Windham essentially sealed the game with Eric Daly Jr. Junior Daly hitting both foul shots, giving UCLA a 4-point advantage with 8 seconds remaining.

Bilodeau, who leads UCLA with 14.1 points per game, scored 19 points on Monday to lead UCLA. The Daily added 12, with Spanish center Adey Mara having the second double double of the season (11 points, 10 rebounds). UCLA is 7-0 this season, with Mara scoring in double digits.

Berry leads the Wildcats with 22 in the senior night, while Martinelli is 20-year-old (16-14 overall, 7-12 in the Big Ten) in 15th place in Iowa and Southern California. This is the final qualifying spot for the Big Ten tournament.

UCLA has won 10 of its last 13 games, improving to 8-3 in games with under 5 points. The Bruins (21-9, 12-7 Big Ten) are sitting in half of the backback games in Wisconsin, Maryland and Purdue for their final double-by in the Big Ten tournament.

Northwestern saw their three-game winning streak finish and finish in Maryland on Saturday in 13th place.

UCLA will close the regular season at home against USC on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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