UCLA rolls past UNC Asheville 86-53 in March Madness

SACRAMENTO,Calif. (AP) —Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 17 pointsand UCLAraced out to a fast start and never looked back in a 86-53 victoryover UNC Asheville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament onThursday night.

The second-seeded Bruins (30-5) scored the first 14 points ofthe game and rolled from there. Amari Bailey also scored 17 pointsand David Singleton had 11.

UCLA advanced to play seventh-seeded Northwestern in the secondround of the West Region. TheWildcats beat Boise State75-67earlier in the day.

Drew Pember scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Bulldogs(27-8). UNC Asheville, which won the Big South regular-season andtournament titles, has now lost all five times the school hasadvanced to the round of 64.

The Bruins apparently took notice of what happened earlier inthe day at this site when fellow Pac-12No. 2 seed Arizona wasousted by Princeton 59-55.

UCLA made sure this game was never in doubt, making its firstfive shots andtaking a 14-0 leadon a 3-pointer bySingleton just 3:06 into the game.

Jaquez scoredinside to give the Bruins their biggest lead of the first half at34-11 and they coasted from there.

BIGPICTURE

UNCAsheville: The Bulldogs came into the game on a nine-game winningstreak and with a school-record 27 wins but were once againovermatched against a major opponent. Four of their five losses inthe first round of the tournament have come by at least 20 points,with their only close game being a 72-65 defeat to Syracuse in2012.

UCLA: Theinjuries that hit the Bruins in the Pac-12 tournament didn’t hurtthem in this game. Defensive stopper Jaylen Clark (Achilles tendon)is out for the season and freshman big man Adem Bona sat out hissecond straight game with as shoulder injury. Bona could return forthe second round.

UPNEXT

With a win onSaturday, the Bruins will advance to the Sweet 16 for a thirdstraight season for the first time since 2006-08, when they went tothe Final Four each year.