Bruins go cold from the free-throw line, then lose the game 74-72 in the final seconds at Pauley Pavilion<\/b>
\nLOS ANGELES \u2014 Jaylen slapped the floor with two hands. The sophomore pulled his jersey over his face as the Belmont bench celebrated.
A defensive breakdown in the final moments ended UCLA\u2019s three-game losing streak as Belmont\u2019s Kevin McClain found a wide-open cutting lane and laid in the winning shot with 3.2 seconds remaining in a 74-72 UCLA loss in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.
Illustrative of UCLA\u2019s second-half struggles in the game, the team\u2019s would-be last chance ended in a turnover when a miscommunication led to Cody Riley throwing the ball out of bounds behind Hands.
UCLA (7-3) went more than six minutes in the second half without a field goal and nearly four points without a point as free throw-attempts dribbled off the rim. The Bruins went 9 of 24 from the foul stripe in the second half.
A 3-pointer from Grayson Murphy put Belmont (8-1) up by one with 2:45 to go. Hands calmly drained a 3 with 33 seconds left, but the visiting Bruins responded with McClain\u2019s game-winner on the next possession.
Kris Wilkes led UCLA with 20 points, but scored just one point in the second half.
UCLA built a 12-point lead in the first half, but Belmont, which missed 10 of its first 12 shots from the field, quickly erased the deficit with a barrage of 3-pointers.
The Bruins of the Ohio Valley Conference scored 12 unanswered points on 3-pointers. It took less than three minutes to tie the game.
Belmont made 8 of 17 shots from long range in the first half, shooting better from 3-point range than inside the arc.
Wilkes scored 19 points in the first half to pace UCLA, overcoming a frigid start for Prince Ali. UCLA\u2019s redshirt junior guard went 0 for 6 in the first half and didn\u2019t score until a pair of free throws early in the second half.
Ali was the only UCLA player to step to the free-throw line and not miss a shot as the team shot 42.9 percent from the stripe.<\/p>\n