LAS VEGAS—Dylan Andrews went 7-for-9 from 3-point range on his way to a career-high 31 points and No. 5 seed UCLA dispatched 12th-seeded Oregon State 67–57 in the opening round of the Pacific 12 Conference men’s basketball tournament Wednesday, March 13, at T-Mobile Arena.
UCLA (16–16) closed the first half on a 12–2 run, giving the Bruins a cushion they maintained throughout the entire second half. The lead swelled to as many as 15 points before Oregon State chipped away.
UCLA advanced to the tournament quarterfinals and will meet fourth-seeded Oregon at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Beavers (13–19) pulled within four points with 9:46 remaining on back-to-back 3-pointers by Dexter Akanno and Jordan Pope. Andrews, however, provided an answer. His fifth triple of the game with 9:30 remaining came off an Adem Bona assist. Andrews hit his sixth trey via another Bona assist with 5:37 to go, opening a 10-point lead and continuing the dominant theme of the game.
The inside-outside combination of Bona and Andrews scored 25 of the Bruins’ 34 first-half points, 13 from Andrews and 12 from Bona. Bona finished with 17 points, while also grabbing six rebounds and nabbing two steals. Andrews had three steals, doing his part to help UCLA score 20 points off 12 Oregon State turnovers.
Andrews also did it all offensively. Thanks in part to his four assists, he was in on 41 of UCLA’s points. He capped his personal-best scoring performance with his seventh 3-pointer, following up a long-distance make by teammate Lazar Stefanovic, and made two free throws late to surpass the 30-point mark for the first time in his career.
Pope led Oregon State with 16 points, Akanno added 14 and Tyler Bilodeau chipped in 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor as the Beavers finished their third straight sub-.500 season since advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
