LAS VEGAS — Down by four points with less than a minute to play in the Pac-12 championship game, No. 2 UCLA was given a little extra life. Conference player of the year Bennedict Mathurin got a little greedy and looked for a dagger dunk for No. 1 Arizona, and instead was called for a charge.

So Bruins’ ball, chance to make it a one-possession game. But Arizona center Christian Koloko was having none of it. When Bruin guard Johnny Juzang drove for a layup, Koloko was there to swat it off the glass for his third block of the game.

With 38 seconds left, UCLA had no choice but to foul. But the Wildcats took care of their business at the free-throw line to take an 84-76 victory over the Bruins and earn the Pac-12’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Mathurin led all scorers with 27 points while Dalen Terry added 15 and seven assists for Arizona. Guard Jules Bernard scored 19 to lead UCLA.

It appeared like UCLA had taken control of the game when a flagrant foul on Chirstian Koloko turned into a four-point possession for UCLA, shortly followed by a Juzang 3-pointer to give the Bruins a 12-point lead. Arizona was hampered by fouls and could not figure out the UCLA defense.

But what followed was a 15-2 Arizona run. The Wildcats attacked the rim and got UCLA forward Cody Riley to draw his fourth foul. After a couple made 3-pointers by Arizona, center Oumar Ballo had a clear lane to the basket. Rather than allow the dunk, UCLA center Myles Johnson hacked Ballo and went to the bench with his fourth.

UCLA was forced to rely upon seldom-used reserve Kenneth Nwuba to patrol the paint, and Arizona attacked him. When Dalen Terry lobbed an entry pass up to Koloko, the Arizona big man completed a layup through Nwuba’s foul to tie the game.

Koloko roared as he gave an underhanded flex, the large swaths of red in the stands joining in his catharsis. He completed the three-point play and Arizona was back in the lead for the first time in the second half.

A Jules Bernard 3 briefly gave UCLA the lead back, but Arizona’s 15-2 run soon turned into a 22-5 sprint. Arizona guard Dalen Terry scored nine of 11 for the Wildcats at one point. When he knocked down a corner 3, he stuck his blue Gatorade-stained tongue out at the crowd.

UCLA’s guards took turns scoring baskets to keep the Bruins in the game, but UCLA was unable to contain Arizona’s offense, with the Wildcats shooting 66.7% from the floor in the second half.

It was clear from the beginning UCLA would struggle against the size of Arizona. The Wildcats’ first 10 points all came in the paint, with Koloko dunking and hitting a hook shot over Johnson on consecutive possessions before blocking Johnson’s shot on the other end.

Arizona finished with 40 points in the paint and 11 blocked shots, six coming from Ballo.

But UCLA was able to withstand this initial push, partially thanks to Arizona’s foul trouble, partially thanks to a defense that settled down and held the Wildcats to 6-for-20 shooting to close the first half.

But a lot of the credit belonged to Juzang.

The junior hit his first shot, a baseline jumper for UCLA’s first basket of the game. He soon followed with a transition layup off the glass.

It seemed like seeing those first couple shots go in helped calm Juzang, who had not shot 50% from the floor in any of UCLA’s last five games while averaging an uncharacteristic 8.2 points per game. He made five of eight shots in the first half.

But there was clearer sign of a new confidence for Juzang than when he knocked down a 3-pointer at the first half’s final buzzer to give UCLA a five-point lead. He turned, jaw jutting out as he stared at the Arizona super majority at T-Mobile Arena, before dapping up his teammates.

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