SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- After Syracuse was stunned last year at UCLA, Jason Hart wasn't about to let it happen again.

Hart, a native of Los Angeles, had 18 points, seven assists and a critical steal in the final five seconds Sunday as the No. 4 Orangemen (20-2) held on for a 71-67 victory over the Bruins to break a two-game losing streak.

	DeShaun Williams and Syracuse struggled from the outside, hitting 7 of 24 3-pointers.

It was a struggle all the way. UCLA (13-9) never trailed by more than five points in the second half. The game was tied nine times until DeShaun Williams hit a 3-pointer to put the Orangemen ahead for good at 61-58 with with 7:46 left.

The Bruins really did everything they planned to do, except win. If only they had hit a few more foul shots -- they were a dismal 9-for-21 -- the outcome could have been different.

"I'm not too excited about moral victories," said UCLA coach Steve Lavin, whose Bruins have dropped four of the last five. "We met every one of our goals coming into the game. We were able to dominate the glass, we wanted to keep them out of transition and eliminate easy baskets, and we wanted to keep them off the free throw line. We wanted to make them earn all of their points."

UCLA hit 51.9 percent of its shots from the field and outrebounded Syracuse 41-32. The Bruins' zone defense also kept Syracuse center Etan Thomas in check, repeatedly denying him the ball. He finished with only nine points.

After Williams hit his clutch 3, the Bruins answered almost every time until the final two minutes.

Two free throws by Preston Shumpert put Syracuse ahead 67-62 with 5:11 left, but Dan Gadzuric missed two free throws seconds later and Jerome Moiso missed another as the Orangemen retained a four-point lead.

"We came out here trying to win, and we just couldn't get past the hump," said Jason Kapono, who had 13 points for the Bruins.

A Gadzuric dunk off a lob from Earl Watson pulled UCLA within a basket with 2:47 left, but after both teams missed shots, Ryan Blackwell hit a crucial follow with 1:40 left for a 69-65 Syracuse lead.

"They got a lot of transition buckets that we really need to cut out," said Shumpert, who scored 18 points -- most of them from in close on some nifty moves to the basket. "I don't know if we stopped questioning our ability, but we questioned whether we could get this done. Coach stressed if this team had heart or not, and today we showed it."

Thomas partially blocked a shot by Moiso with 1:13 left to thwart a good UCLA chance. Watson's follow with 18 seconds left off a missed 3-pointer by Kapono made it a two-point game again.

But Blackwell and Thomas each hit a free throw and Hart stole the ball from Watson to preserve the victory before a raucous crowd of 29,731, the largest on campus in the nation this season.

Gadzuric scored a career-high 18 points and had 12 rebounds to lead UCLA and Watson had 11 points.

For the fourth straight game, the Orangemen repeatedly misfired from long range, hitting just 4-of-14 in the opening half and 7-of-24 for the game. Over the three previous games, they were 9-for-43.

Shumpert, who at one point in the season was ranked second in the nation in accuracy, missed his first three 3-pointers against the Bruins. He was 2-for-7 in the game and has hit just 3-of-15 in the last three games.

Hart rescued the Orangemen in the closing minutes of the first half after UCLA had rallied from a seven-point deficit. After Ray Young's fast-break layup put UCLA ahead 36-33, Hart scored 10 points in the final 2:52 of the period to put the Orangemen on top 40-37 at the break.

After losses to Seton Hall and Louisville, a victory was welcome but not exactly thrilling for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

"We were very fortunate," he said. "At the end of the game we made a couple of good plays. But we're just not playing the way we need to, with the energy we need to. We've got to get back some energy."