Jaylen Clark, No. 10 UCLA hold off USC

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LOS ANGELES — The shot-making was contagious. It was like when Oprah Winfrey starts giving out vacations.

First it was Jaylen Clark, who knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the game. A few minutes later, David Singleton hit back-to-back 3s. Dylan Andrews’ attempt from downtown was true. Tyger Campbell got in on the mix and Singleton came back for more with another trifecta as UCLA (14-2 overall, 5-0 Pac-12) raced out to an 18-point halftime lead by way of seven 3s.

Amid torrential downpour in the Southland this week, it was fair to say the Bruins were raining 3s in Pauley Pavilion.

But then a drought came.

UCLA went scoreless for more than eight minutes which helped USC (11-5, 3-2) climb back into the game and eventually take a two-point lead before Clark’s 3-point shot with 14 seconds left gave UCLA a one-point lead en route to an eventual 60-58 victory Thursday night.

After Reese Dixon-Waters gave the Trojans a 58-56 lead, Clark was left open for a wide-open 3-pointer that he missed from the top of the key. Singleton grabbed the offensive rebound and fired the ball right back to Clark, who shot the ball again, from the same spot without hesitation to regain the lead for the Bruins.

Clark finished with a team-high 15 points on 5 of 16 shooting and five rebounds in 37 minutes. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Singleton each scored 12 points for the Bruins. The Trojans were led by Dixon-Waters’ 16 points on a perfect 7 of 7 shooting.

More to come on this story …