UCLA edges Northwestern to return to Sweet 16; David Singleton injured

How Sweet it is.

For the third time in as many seasons, UCLA is advancing to the NCAA tournament’s second week.

The Bruins made it to the Sweet 16 again because another trend persisted Saturday at the Golden 1 Center: The final minutes continued to be winning time.

Shaking off a huge Northwestern rally in which the Wildcats erased a 13-point deficit, second-seeded UCLA held off the seventh-seeded Wildcats for a 68-63 victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Bruins’ celebration was muted because of another late-season injury.

UCLA senior guard David Singleton, whose three-pointer had given his team a late six-point lead, was hurt when he slipped with 20 seconds left. He had to be helped off the court with 20 seconds left but returned and wiggled his fingers as he walked off the court to cheers from the crowd.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 24 points, Amari Bailey added 14 and Tyger Campbell had 12 for the Bruins, who pulled away after making all the plays they needed to in the final minutes. Campbell hurled the ball into the air after the final second ticked off the clock.

UCLA (31-5) will play the winner of the second-round game between Gonzaga and Texas Christian in a regional semifinal on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Boo Buie scored 18 points, Matthew Nicholson had 17 and Chase Audige all 16 of his in the second half for Northwestern (22-12), which had its chances in the biggest game in school history given a lack of basketball tradition.

An incredibly intense, back-and-forth game was tilting in UCLA’s direction after Singleton buried a three-pointer to push the Bruins into a 62-56 lead with 1:45 left after an Adem Bona block had given their team the possession. Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer made two free throws to pull the Wildcats within 62-58.

UCLA’s Tyger Campbell puts up a shot against Northwestern in the first half Saturday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Northwestern got the ball back after Jaime Jaquez Jr. airballed a tough baseline jumper that sailed over the rim, but the Wildcats missed two consecutive shots and UCLA’s Tyger Campbell grabbed the rebound with 42 seconds left. Campbell was eventually fouled and made two free throws to extend the advantage to 64-58 before Northwestern’s Boo Buie made a short jumper with 23 seconds left.

The Wildcats fouled Singleton, who was in such pain he threw an arm around trainer Tyler Lesher while down on the court. UCLA’s Dylan Andrews made both free throws with 20 seconds left before Buie missed a driving layup, effectively ending the Wildcats’ chacnes.

A “U-C-L-A!” chant echoed inside the arena after Andrews’ three-pointer from the wing pushed the Bruins into a 51-45 lead and capped a 6-0 surge for his team. Just as it had earlier in the second half, Northwestern rallied, coming within 51-50 on a Boo Buie three-pointer.

It looked like UCLA might be on the way to a blowout when Bailey spun around Buie for a layup to give the Bruins a 41-28 lead early in the second half.

But in a sign of things to come, Jaquez airballed a three-pointer and the Northwestern fans let him hear it. The Wildcats then started finding the offensive rhythm that had eluded them in the first half, going on an 11-2 push to pull within 43-39 and force UCLA coach Mick Cronin to call timeout as Singleton and Bona argued on their way to the bench.

Bona threw down a dunk coming out of the timeout but immediately clutched the left shoulder he had hurt during the Pac-12 tournament and departed. Northwestern quickly pulled into a 45-45 tie when UCLA’s Kenneth Nwuba was called for goaltending on a driving layup by Buie.

UCLA’s Kenneth Nwuba battles for a loose ball against Northwestern’s Ty Berry in the first half.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA’s smothering defense did its job in helping the Bruins take a 35-25 halftime lead, holding Northwestern’s veteran backcourt of Buie and Audige to five points on a combined one-of-eight shooting. Bailey and Dylan Andrews were particularly suffocating in their efforts on Buie, constantly denying him driving lanes while staying within bad-breath distance.

The Bruins had considerably less success stopping Nicholson, who made all five shots on the way to 10 points after scoring on a variety of lobs and pick-and-roll plays. All three UCLA big men were equally ineffective in preventing those easy baskets.

In his first appearance since walking gingerly off the court during the Pac-12 tournament, Bona struggled in the early going except for a dunk off a nice pass from Bailey. Bona was called for two fouls in a 24-second span and came out, playing only four minutes in the first half.

Nwuba continued his surprising stint as the Bruins’ best big man, blocking a shot that triggered a fastbreak ending in a Jaquez dunk. Jaquez and Bailey were their team’s primary protagonists on offense, combining for 25 points by the game’s midpoints.

UCLA’s full-court press was also effective in pockets, helping the Bruins take an 11-3 lead on points off turnovers by halftime. It also allowed them to get out on the fastbreak as much as possible to maximize their huge advantage in athleticism. At halftime, all 13 of the game’s fastbreak points belonged to the Bruins.

After UCLA’s first-round victory, Cronin joked that his sister, Kelly, would be rooting for Northwestern because she was an alumna of the Big Ten school. Seeing the spot, Kelly Cronin’s students at Summit Country Day High in Cincinnati, where she’s the principal, posted pro-Northwestern signs in her office, but just to avoid any confusion she wore a UCLA T-shirt.

“She would never root against me,” Mick Cronin said.

It would have been a futile effort anyway.