LOS ANGELES _ One of the largest crowds of the season jammed into Pauley Pavilion and waited for the fun to begin.
The video board showed one UCLA luminary after another, Sidney Wicks waving and Baron Davis smiling and Gail Goodrich holding a basketball as the honorary captain.
A student won a year's worth of tuition, fake money floating into the air after he discovered he had the winning box.
For about 38 minutes Saturday night, it seemed like that might be the extent of the entertainment.
The Bruins bricked their way to a considerable deficit against Arizona, dropping themselves into a hole from which even their steady defense couldn't fully extract it after they followed one empty possession with another.
Point guard Tyger Campbell had missed his first 10 shots when he rose for a jumper with the score tied and less than a minute to play. He banked it in while falling down.
The crowd could finally unleash its fully frenzy, the Bruins on their way to an improbable 69-64 victory that they pulled out despite one of their worst offensive performances of the season.
"Just like we drew it up," UCLA coach Mick Cronin cracked afterward.
UCLA shot 33.3% but made the ones it needed to, closing the game on a 13-4 run to move into sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 Conference. The Bruins (19-11, 12-5 Pac-12) ran over to celebrate their seventh consecutive victory with students seated behind one basket after the game, leaping joyously in unison.
"First place!" a fan yelled in the upper deck. "First place!"
Campbell and teammate Chris Smith combined to make only six of 26 shots but came through when needed. With the Bruins trailing by four points, Smith made a jump hook and swished a turnaround jumper to tie the score with 1:21 left.
Arizona's Dylan Smith then dribbled out of bounds along the baseline, giving the ball back to the Bruins. Campbell made the most of the opportunity when he banked in his jumper with 49 seconds left.
"I'm yelling at him to attack the guy," Cronin said, "use his speed."
Wildcats guard Max Hazzard then committed another turnover when he lost the ball out of bounds along the sideline and the Bruins made the necessary free throws to secure the triumph.
Smith finished with 17 points on five-for-15 shooting and Cody Riley and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 11 points apiece.
Arizona coach Sean Miller did not see the end, having been ejected with 12:28 left when he picked up a second technical foul after officials reviewed a play and allowed UCLA to keep possession. Wildcats guard Nico Mannion scored 19 points but missed a dunk in the final seconds as a fitting end for the Wildcats (19-10, 9-7).
This might have been UCLA's best remaining chance to enhance its NCAA tournament resume.
Arizona is among the nation's top teams, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, a widely derided metric that the NCAA tournament selection committee uses to help pick and seed teams. The Wildcats entered the game ranked No. 11 in the NET, qualifying this as a desirable Quadrant 1 game for the Bruins that draws special interest from the selection committee.
UCLA's final regular-season game, against USC next weekend, will also qualify as a Quad 1 game because road games against top-75 teams in the NET count in that category and the Trojans were ranked No. 45 in the NET as of Saturday.
UCLA missed its first seven shots while committing two early turnovers, but Arizona could not get much early separation, the Bruins overcoming the slow start to take a 7-6 lead on a Smith floater.
But UCLA kept missing shots and the Wildcats eventually capitalized, taking a 20-13 advantage when the intensity level rose about three notches in one sequence.
Mannion had just scored on a driving layup when he stole the inbounds pass and went up for another basket. Riley stepped over to block the shot but an irate Miller screamed his way to a technical foul, presumably believing that Riley had made contact with his body.
The Bruins later used a 10-0 run to go ahead by three points before the Wildcats countered with their own 9-0 run.
UCLA was shooting only 23.1% to that point, staying in the game because of its tight defense. It would eventually make the shots it needed.
