LOS ANGELES – Junior guard Jaylen Clark continued his early-season hot streak to lead the No. 8-ranked UCLA men’s basketball team to a comfortable 86-56 win over Norfolk State on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Clark paced UCLA (3-0) with a game-high 19 points, but six separate players scored in double figures as the Bruins extended their season-opening winning streak to three games.
All five of UCLA’s starters ended the night with at least 10 points, and fifth-year guard David Singleton added 11 points off the bench. Senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with a dozen points, redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell and freshman guard Amari Bailey each had 11, and freshman forward Adem Bona added 10 points.
Clark also paced the Bruins on the glass, finishing one rebound away from a double-double with nine boards. He added a block and two steals. Campbell paced the Bruins in both assists (7) and steals (3).
Norfolk State (2-2) was led by forward Kris Bankston, who had team-highs in points (17) and rebounds (9) while making 8-of-11 attempts from the field.
For the game, UCLA out-shot the visitors by a margin of 57-47%. The disparity was especially large from three-point range, as the Bruins connected on 11-of-25 attempts from beyond the arc while the Spartans made just 2-of-14. Clark was UCLA’s most dangerous shooter from deep, making a career-high five three-pointers on eight tries.
UCLA never trailed in the game. Bailey opened the night’s scoring by sinking a lay-up in transition, and though the teams traded baskets for the first few minutes of the game, the Bruins took the lead permanently after a close-range lay-up from Jaquez Jr. made it 6-4 at the 17:22 mark of the first half.
The Bruins pulled away mid-way through the first half with a 10-2 run, highlighted by five consecutive points from Clark. His first basket in that run came off a monstrous dunk following a Bailey steal, and he followed that up by draining a three-point attempt from the left wing to make it a seven-point game.
Clark converted from deep again at the 7:32 mark of the first half to push UCLA’s lead into double digits for the first time at 32-21, and another trey from Singleton minutes later gave the Bruins a 39-27 lead with 4:13 left in the first half. UCLA’s lead would not slip back into single digits the rest…
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