SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Sedrick Barefield scored 29 points to help Utah cruise past UCLA 92-81 on Saturday.
Timmy Allen added 17 points and Donnie Tillman chipped in 14 for the Utes. Parker Van Dyke scored 12 points and dished out five assists.
Utah (17-13, 11-7 Pac-12) won for the third time in four games to finish third in the Pac-12 Conference.
Kris Wilkes scored 20 points to lead UCLA. David Singleton and Jules Bernard each scored 13 and Jalen Hill added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
UCLA (16-15, 9-9) dropped both games on its final regular-season road trip, assuring its worst regular-season finish since 2015-16.
The Utes overwhelmed UCLA by knocking down one 3-pointer after another. Utah sank 11 of 20 from outside in the first half alone. On the other end, the Bruins missed all seven attempts from 3-point range before halftime.
Barefield made three 3-pointers and Van Dyke added another to help the Utes carve out a 19-6 lead five minutes into the game.
UCLA cut the deficit to single digits three times, the final time when Bernard’s layup trimmed Utah’s lead to 28-20. That’s as close as the Bruins would get in the first half.
Utah ripped off a 23-4 run to take a 51-24 lead with 2:54 left before halftime. Tillman capped the decisive spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Utes scored six straight baskets to finish off the run, with Tillman accounting for four of the six.
The Bruins outscored Utah 22-6 over a six-minute stretch spanning both halves and cut the deficit to 57-46 on a 3-pointer from Wilkes. Riley Battin hit a pair of corner 3s and Barefield also scored a pair of baskets to finally halt the run and boost Utah’s lead to 69-49.
UCLA strung together one more rally. The Bruins hit three straight baskets, the last a 3-pointer from Singleton, to cut the deficit to 75-67. UCLA would not get any closer and the Utes put it away when Barefield and Van Dyke hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Utah a 91-76 lead with 58.1 seconds left.
THE BIG PICTURE
UCLA: An inability to run Utah off the 3-point line in the first half assured the Bruins trailed for the final 39 minutes of the contest and ended the regular season with back-to-back losses.
Utah: The Utes swept the season series with UCLA and clinched the third seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. It gives Utah a valuable bye into the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
UP NEXT
UCLA: The Bruins will play in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday.
Utah: The Utes will play in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday.
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