UCLA holds on to beat skidding Washington

Aday Mara scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots as UCLA outlasted Washington 65-60 on Friday in Seattle.

Skyy Clark also scored 12 and Kobe Johnson and Eric Dailey Jr. added 11 points apiece for the Bruins (14-6, 5-4 Big Ten), who won their third straight game. Johnson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Tyler Bilodeau, the Bruins' leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, exited due to a right ankle injury after playing just three minutes. He was hurt while chasing a loose ball near midcourt early in the first half.

Great Osobor produced 19 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies (10-10, 1-8), who lost their sixth game in a row.

The Bruins held their biggest lead, 53-42, with 11:18 remaining. Washington pulled within 60-57 in the final minute before UCLA's Dylan Andrews made a step-back 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to help clinch the victory.

Both teams struggled from the field, with the Bruins shooting 41.1 percent (23 of 56) and the Huskies making 41.5 percent (22 of 53). However, UCLA sank 9 of 17 3-point attempts (52.9 percent) while Washington was just 5 of 22 (22.7 percent).

The Bruins took a 36-32 lead into the intermission after a first half that featured big runs for both teams.

Washington's Franck Kepnang, returning from a knee injury that had kept him out since Nov. 9, made a hook shot as part of a three-point play to spark an 8-0 spurt that gave the Huskies a 17-13 lead. The run included an alley-oop dunk by Osobor off a pass from Luis Kortright.

Washington extended its lead to 22-15 midway through the half on a fastbreak dunk by Tyler Harris off a Bruins turnover.

UCLA responded with an 11-0 run to regain the lead. Johnson made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 22-22, and Lazar Stefanovic stole a pass at the free-throw line and raced the other way for a layup that put the Bruins ahead.

UCLA went up by eight before a Kepnang dunk sparked a late 6-0 run to slice the gap to 34-32. Dailey sank a driving layup just before the buzzer to make it a four-point game at the half.

The Huskies pulled within 45-42 with just under 14 minutes remaining before Sebastian Mack made back-to-back 3-pointers to put UCLA seemingly back in control.

--Field Level Media