WEST LAFAYETTE, IN-Rallying from fourteen points down the UCLA Bruins earned a furious come from behind overtime victory over the Michigan State Spartans, 86-80 in the play in round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 18 at Mackey Arena. The tandem of Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez Jr. led the way as the Bruins outscored the Spartans 53-36 in the second half and overtime. The UCLA Bruins move on to face the NO. 6 seed BYU Cougars on Saturday night.

Jaquez tied the game with 28 seconds left in regulation, converting a three point play to send the game into overtime. Never leaving the court and playing the whole 45 minutes, Jaquez scored a career high 27 points. While Juzang scored the first pivotal four points in OT, it proved to be all the points the Bruins would need. UCLA outscored MSU 9-3 in OT. 

One other J proved essential in the victory, Jules Bernard, scoring 11 points while grabbing a game high 8 rebounds.

Showing amazing resolve after losing the final four games of the regular season, the Bruins live to fight another day. 

As UCLA showed poise and steely resolve during the games final crucial moments one could almost feel the pedigree of UCLA teams of yesteryear. Wooden-Alcindor-Walton-Goodrich-Wilkes-Hazzard-O’Bannon-Miller-Love-Westbrook.