Bruins Hang On, Defeat Indiana for Crucial Road Win

The UCLA Bruins (19-7, 10-5) held on to defeat the Indiana Hoosiers (15-11, 6-9) on the road Friday night. Despite a late crumble, Mick Cronin's squad was able to gut out a massive 72-68 road victory in one of the more hostile places to play in all of college basketball.

The Bruins led by seven with a minute to go and saw that lead wither down to just two points with mere seconds to play. Back-to-back missed front ends at the free throw line let the Hoosiers back in the ballgame, but a last second missed three-pointer from Indiana would give the Bruins the win.

Despite not having a real standout scorer, each of the 10 UCLA players that got in the contest were able to earn points. Junior forward Tyler Bilodeau led the team with 12 points with five rebounds and three assists.

Junior guard Skyy Clark was impressive, scoring 11 points (4-5 FG) with a perfect 3-3 from three-point land. He added four rebounds and two assists to his stat sheet while senior guard Kobe Johnson netted 10 points and six rebounds. It was Johnson's third-straight game in double figures.

Sophomore center Aday Mara imposed his will on both ends of the floor in another expanded role. He had to match the size and physicality of Hoosiers senior center Oumar Ballo and did not disappoint. Mara poured in eight points with five rebounds and a pair of massive blocks.

This was one of the grittier wins of the season for the Bruins not just because they suffered a late surge from the Hoosiers in a tough road atmosphere, but because they lost the turnover battle for the first time in a while.

UCLA turned it over 11 times while only forcing eight which is way under their average of forced turnovers per game (16.2). Indiana took seven more shots and the Bruins still found a way to gut out the victory. If the Hoosier's final three-point shot went down, the story could be a whole lot different.

After a much-needed weekend break, the Bruins will return home for their next two contests to try and bolster that conference record against two struggling teams. They will start with the Minnesota Gophers (12-12, 4-9) on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion trying to win back-to-back games.

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