No. 9 UCLA beats Washington to snap 2-game skid

LOS ANGELES — With the regular season nearing the stretch run, what the UCLA men’s basketball team hopes was the opening act of another lengthy win streak took place on Thursday night, as the Bruins started strong and held off Washington, 70-61, at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (18-4 overall, 9-2 Pac-12) were coming off consecutive road losses to rivals Arizona and USC, two of the better teams in the conference. UCLA had won 14 consecutive games prior to those defeats.

Washington (13-11, 5-8 Pac-12) – which UCLA defeated, 74-49, in Seattle last month – did not provide the Bruins with nearly the same level of competition as the Wildcats and Trojans.

Jamie Jaquez Jr. led the Bruins with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Amari Bailey, making his first start since returning from a foot injury, had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Four Bruins scored in double figures, with Tyger Campbell (11 points) and Adem Bona (10 points) joining Jaquez and Bailey. Jaylen Clark and David Singleton both added nine points.

The win wasn’t entirely comfortable, though. After a strong first half, UCLA’s offense faltered in the second half. Washington trimmed a 16-point halftime deficit to single digits, and it took a few defensive stops to seal the win while the Bruins were held scoreless themselves for the last three minutes.

UCLA went into Thursday’s schedule a half-game ahead of Arizona atop the Pac-12 standings, staying in first with the win. The Bruins have now won eight straight over Washington and currently have the longest home win streak in the nation at 20 games.

The Bruins jumped on the Huskies from the start, scoring the first eight points of the game and then clamping down on defense. During one stretch in the first half, Washington committed six turnovers in seven minutes and had 13 turnovers in all through the first 20 minutes.