UCLA did what 1-seeds do in March — it put the game away.

The Bruins struggled with the Colorado Buffaloes throughout the regular season and that trend continued on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament. CU shot 60% from the field in the first half and made seven of its 12 free throws. UCLA trailed by one at the halftime break.

UCLA’s stars paved the way in the second half for a comfortable win. Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. each scored 11 points in the final 20 minutes while freshman Amari Bailey scored 14 of his career-high 26 points to power the Bruins to an 80-69 victory.

The top seed in the Tournament will face the winner of Oregon and Washington State on Friday.

Bailey led all scorers on the day, finishing 8-of-12 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. He also made two of his three shots from behind the arc. UCLA also got a strong outing from recently-minted Pac-12 Freshman of the Year center Adem Bona, who notched a double-double in 29 minutes — 11 points and 10 rebounds.

With the Bruins playing their first game without Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Jaylen Clark, it was the freshmen who stepped up to fill the void.

There’s no replacing what Clark, a magnificent two-way player, brings to the floor for the Bruins, but Bailey and Bona brought noticeable energy on the defensive end. And, in the second half, that energy started to fuel easy run-outs for UCLA.

Bailey had deflections that led to transition buckets. Bona had blocks that left those on press row with their jaws on the desk in front of them.

“Our guys, as usual, get tougher as the game goes on,” coach Mick Cronin said after the game. “That’s what happens when you’ve got winners on your team.

“Obviously, Amari had a big day scoring the ball, and I know he’s got that in him, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it out of him. It hasn’t been his fault. It’s been mine. We’re trying to figure out ways to get his confidence going. I thought this game got going up-and-down and he was able to get a lot of touches early to get into his rhythm. When you’re a young player it helps to get your confidence going.”

Cronin said immediately after the game Bailey is the type of player who just needs the ball in his hands to be effective. Given the veteran talent UCLA rolls out on a nightly basis, that’s not always going to be available to him. But it was on Thursday; the Bruins turned their McDonald’s All-American loose and he turned in a brilliant performance.

“If anything, I feel like we can lose a lot just with Jaylen’s presence defensively, so I just wanted to come in and just try to make at least some of it up and just play as hard as I can on defense and just flow throughout the game, really,” Bailey said after.

A triple from CU’s Tristan da Silva (team-high 17 points) with 5:18 to play gave the Buffs a 61-60 lead.

UCLA then embarked on a 19-4 run.

Jaquez splashed home a triple to ignite the spurt, Campbell scored at the rim on the break, and then Bailey knocked down four straight at the free throw line. The 9-0 burst was halted by a pair of buckets from CU, but then Jaquez and Campbell were there to slam the door shut.

Ten straight points from the seniors pushed the Bruins ahead for good. Jaquez got an and-one to drop during the spurt. Campbell knocked down four free throws after a pair of technicals on CU coach Tad Boyle ejected him from the game.

“I’ve got a lot of games under my belt here and I know a lot of my teammates do as well, like Tyger and David (Singleton), and we just know when we get in those situations, we know how to win, and we understand that in crunch time, you got to get stops,” Jaquez said. “And that’s what we did.”

Campbell finished with 18 points and seven assists. Jaquez pitched in 16 points and nine boards.

UCLA (28-4) plays again on Friday at 6 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.