NCAA Tournament 2017, UCLA vs Kent State: Highlights, score and recap

Who would win the 2017 NCAA Tournament game between UCLA and Kent State?

On Friday night, UCLA and Kent State would go head-to-head in one of the final opening round games of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. It would be a battle of No. 3 and No. 14 seeds, respectively. Who would win and advance?

At the half, UCLA was up on Kent State, 47-39. There was a scary moment with Lonzo Ball after taking a bad fall on his hip. He limped a little and got checked out at the half. However, he remained in the game as the second half began.

Outside of that, Kent State went on a 13-4 run to close the first. It narrowed the lead to single digits, so the pressure would be on the Bruins in the final 20 minutes.

To open the second half, the Golden Flashes continued to break into the lead. They were down by as little as four just five minutes in, until UCLA hit a big three-pointer to extend the deficit to seven. Kent State hung around, though, and wouldn’t go away.

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket

A little past the midway point of the second half, UCLA started to pull away. Isaac Hamilton and TJ Leaf stepped up with Bryce Alford hitting a clinching 3-pointer to go up 86-68. They wore down the Kent State team with size and length, leading to the end result. This included them not missing a shot for 12 minutes.

Three Stars

1. TJ Leaf, UCLA – Leaf has a strong game with 23 points and six rebounds in the win.
2. Jimmy Hall, Kent State – Hall put up a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Golden Flashes.
3. Thomas Welsh, UCLA – Welsh finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Highlights

Outside of Ball, there are five double-digit scorers — TJ Leaf, Bryce Alford, Isaac Hamilton, Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh. Leaf leads the team in points per game (16.2) and rebounds (8.3). What will we see out of these top six players for the No. 3 seed?

As for Kent State, they are the No. 14 seed in the South Region. They finished in fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Conference East, but won their respective tournament to reach the postseason. Jimmy Hall and co. will look to capitalize on this momentum by looking to upset UCLA. Do they have enough to make this happen?

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament Bracket

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What’s Next?

UCLA will move on to the next round of the NCAA Tournament. They’ll face Cincinnati, who defeated Kansas State on Friday. Kent State will head home and look to regroup for the 2017-18 college basketball season.