Familiar face finishes off Bruins as Bradley and Wildcats prevail

Needing to be at its best late in a highly charged renewal ofan old rivalry, UCLA found itself confronted by two major problems.

- By BEN BOLCH

HARRY HOW Getty Images JADEN BRADLEY (0) scored seven straight points to lead No. 5 Arizona past No. 15 UCLA on Friday 69-65.

Its offense and defense.

Whenever the Bruins had the ball in the final minutes, they dribbled pointlessly and for too long before taking a questionable shot.

Whenever they needed to get a stop, they were befuddled by an old nemesis.

Arizona guard Jaden Bradley, a veteran who's been around since the Wildcats and Bruins were Pac-12 rivals, unspooled some brilliance in the final two minutes to revive a chant long hated by anyone wearing blue and gold.

“UofA! UofA!”

Arizona made itself at home inside Intuit Dome on Friday night thanks in large part to the player who scored seven consecutive points for his team to lift the No. 5 Wildcats to a 69-65 victory over No. 15 UCLA.

There will be plenty of regrets for the Bruins (3-1) after they lost an eight-point lead over the final seven minutes, their offense going cold and their defense unable to stop Arizona (4-0) as the Wildcats made their final four shots.

“We didn’t execute down the stretch,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “They did. That was the story of the game.”

The maddening sequence started with Bradley making a driving layup to push his team into a one-point lead. After Bruins guard Skyy Clark countered with ajumper, UCLA somehow forgot to defend Bradley on the perimeter and he rose for a three-pointer that gave his team a 65-63 advantage.