LAS VEGAS — Freshman Jordan Adams carried UCLA into the Pac-12 championship game.
Now the Bruins will have to carry on without him.
Adams scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half before breaking his right foot on the game’s final play, helping No. 21 UCLA beat No. 18 Arizona for the third time this season, a 66-64 victory Friday night that sends the Bruins to the Pac-12 tournament title game.
Adams, UCLA’s second-leading scorer at 15.2 points per game, limped off the floor after Arizona’s final shot attempt and X-rays showed a broke fifth metatarsal, putting a damper on UCLA’s win and the rest of its postseason.
“The very last play of the game when they were shooting, somehow he came down and tweaked his foot," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
Ditching their new pajama-like uniforms for the more traditional white with blue and yellow trim, the Bruins (25-8) fought back from an 11-point second-half deficit after pulling off a similar rally against Arizona State in the quarterfinals. Adams triggered it, scoring 17 points in the final 9:57, including 15 straight during one stretch.
Kyle Anderson put UCLA in front on a putback with 22 seconds left and Arizona’s Solomon Hill missed a midrange jumper, sending the Bruins into tonight’s title game.
“The leaders on our team stressed to the five guys that are out there that we have to stay calm, being down 11 or nine or whatever it was," said Anderson, who had 10 points. “I think that’s what we did a really good job of and we were able to fight back for a second time and end up with the win."
Arizona (25-7) was effective in slowing down Shabazz Muhammad and Larry Drew II, but had no answer for Adams once he got going in the second half.
Muhammad finished with 11 points on four-of-11 shooting after a quiet first half and Drew went scoreless after missing all five of his shots.
Adams made up for it, hitting six of 13 shots and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line for the Pac-12 regular-season champs in an entertaining game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Brandon Ashley had 15 points, Mark Lyons added 13 and Kaleb Tarczewski had 13 rebounds for the Wildcats, who had already been assured a spot in the NCAA tournament, but could drop a few seeds after a late-season slide and the loss to UCLA.
“I don’t know what seed we’re going to get," Arizona coach Sean Miller sad. “We played well from start to finish and we lost. It’s hard when you lose to a team three times."
UCLA beat Arizona twice during the regular season, 84-73 in Tucson and 74-69 at home for its first season sweep of the Wildcats since 2007-08.
UCLA got off to a slow start in its opening game of the Pac-12 tournament, rallying from a 15-point deficit to beat Arizona State 80-75 in the quarterfinals.
Arizona built a 14-point lead in its opener, but couldn’t shake Colorado until late for a 79-69 win.
After the quarterfinal win, the Wildcats said they were looking forward to get a chance for revenge against the Bruins.
They played with an extra intensity, too, particularly on defense, cutting off lanes, knocking UCLA’s players to the floor with hard fouls.
Hounded by Nick Johnson, Drew had trouble getting into the lane, where he does his most damage, and missed all three of his shots — with one assist — in a scoreless first half.
In other games on Friday:
No. 4 Louisville 69, No. 24 Notre Dame 57: NEW YORK — Russ Smith scored 20 points and Peyton Siva added 12 to lead Louisville to a victory over Notre Dame, the third straight year the Cardinals beat the Fighting Irish in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.
No. 19 Syracuse 58, No. 5 Georgetown 55: NEW YORK — Brandon Triche scored the go-ahead basket early in overtime and Syracuse advanced to the Big East championship game with a victory over Georgetown in the final conference clash of their storied heavyweight rivalry.
Maryland 83, No. 2 Duke 74: GREENSBORO, N.C. — Dez Wells scored a career-high 30 points and Maryland upset Duke in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
No. 9 Miami 69, Boston College 58: GREENSBORO, N.C. — Shane Larkin scored 20 points and Miami pulled away to beat Boston College in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
No. 3 Indiana 80, Illinois 64: CHICAGO — Cody Zeller scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Indiana past Illinois in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
No. 8 Michigan State 59, Iowa 56: CHICAGO — Adreian Payne had 18 points and 10 rebounds, leading Michigan State to a rugged victory over Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
No. 22 Wisconsin 68, No. 6 Michigan 59: CHICAGO — Ben Brust scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half and Wisconsin knocked off Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
No. 10 Ohio State 71, Nebraska 50: CHICAGO — DeShaun Thomas and Sam Thompson had 19 points apiece, helping Ohio State rout Nebraska in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
No. 7 Kansas 88, Iowa State 73: KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Perry Ellis scored a career-high 23 points, and Kansas pulled away in the second half to beat Iowa State and reach the Big 12 tournament title game.
No. 11 Kansas State 68, No. 14 Oklahoma State 57: KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rodney McGruder scored Kansas State’s first nine points of the second half and led the Wildcats past Oklahoma State in the Big 12 semifinals, setting up a title match today against rival Kansas.
No. 13 Florida 80, LSU 58: NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Erik Murphy scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds to help Florida take the first step toward trying to add a Southeastern Conference tournament title to its regular season championship by beating LSU.
No. 15 New Mexico 60, San Diego State 50: LAS VEGAS — Tony Snell scored 17, including five 3-pointers, to lead New Mexico past San Diego State in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Conference tournament.
No. 16 Saint Louis 72, Charlotte 55: NEW YORK — Dwayne Evans played through foul trouble to score 25 points on near-perfect shooting, and top-seeded Saint Louis pulled away early to beat Charlotte in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
No. 25 VCU 82, Saint Joseph’s 79: NEW YORK — Treveon Graham scored 17 points, and hot-shooting VCU beat Saint Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
No. 20 Memphis 85, Tulsa 74: TULSA, Okla. — Chris Crawford scored 30 points while connecting on eight 3-pointers to set new career highs in both categories for the second straight game, D.J. Stephens had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Memphis reached the Conference USA final by beating Tulsa.
