A special day needed a big moment.
Leave it to the tallest Bruin to deliver a handful in his own tribute to Bill Walton.
With UCLA clinging to a narrow lead over Ohio State midway through the second half Sunday, Aday Mara took a pass from teammate Skyy Clark and pivoted for a dunk.
The 7-foot-3 center followed with another move in which he finished through contact, converting a layup as he was fouled.
UCLAâs lead was back up to eight points and the Bruins began to pull away for a 69-61 victory inside Pauley Pavilion on the day they honored the late Walton.
Mara added an emphatic block of Ohio State star Bruce Thorntonâs driving layup, a steal and a jump hook in the final minutes. Playing most of the second half after teammate Tyler Bilodeau picked up a quick foul and committed a bad turnover by throwing a pass into the backcourt, Mara finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
Clarkâs step-back three-pointer with 38 seconds left ensured the Bruins (20-8 overall, 11-6 Big Ten) would bounce back from their collapse against Minnesota last week to give coach Mick Cronin his 500th career victory.
After contributing to the meltdown with epic inefficiency at the foul line, Croninâs team made 15 of 20 free throws Sunday, helping him become the youngest active coach to reach that milestone and is the 18th coach to have tallied at least 500 career wins at the NCAA Division I level.
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr. broke out of a three-week slump with 20 points on eight-for-15 shooting to go with eight rebounds, Clark added 13 points and Sebastian Mack scored 11 off the bench.
Thornton scored 21 points in relatively inefficient fashion, making seven of 17 shots for the Buckeyes (15-13, 7-10).
The tributes to Walton started well before tipoff. UCLA players wore warmups with a tie-dye design over Waltonâs name and his No. 32. Grateful Dead songs blared over the sound system. Even several members of the CBS television production crew wore colorful tie-dye T-shirts.
During timeouts, video footage of Walton highlights was shown alongside playersâ favorite memories of the Big Redhead. Waltonâs wife, Lori, was honored on the court midway through the first half and joined by family members during a halftime celebration. Several UCLA greats in attendance, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Wicks, Jamaal Wilkes and Mike Warren, were shown on the video board.
Read more: Long after he dominated for his beloved Bruins, Bill Walton never stopped making UCLA feel special
A first half full of long scoring droughts and missed opportunities would not have pleased Walton. Each team went more than four minutes without a point. UCLAâs Kobe Johnson had three steals leading to zero points after Bilodeau and Dylan Andrews missed layups and Johnson missed a three-pointer.
Showing that they were listening last week when Cronin asked for more support when his players were at the foul line, fans cheered in encouragement after Dailey missed a free throw but groaned after he missed another.
The Bruins got a spark on the offensive end from Mack, who attacked the basket and made a highlight pass to Dailey for a three-pointer, and on the defensive end from forward William Kyle III, who logged two of his three blocks before halftime.
The bigs came through for their legendary predecessor.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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