LOS ANGELES — Keion Brooks Jr. scored 22 points and Keyon Menifield had 21 for the Washington men’s basketball team, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a third straight loss and an 80-74 defeat against USC at Galen Center on Saturday night.
Braxton Meah finished 11 points before fouling out and Jamal Bey added 10 points, while starting for Cole Bajema who was serving a one-game Pac-12 suspension.
It was the Huskies’ seventh straight loss to the Trojans, who extended their home winning streak to 12 in a row.
Washington had six assists on its first six field goals and zero turnovers when Meah flushed a dunk off a feed from Menifield to take a 16-9 lead with 11:49 left in the first half.
However, the Huskies downturn coincided when Meah picked up three fouls in less than a minute and went to the bench for the remainder of the first half with 9:24 left the score tied 16-16.
The Trojans used an 11-0 run to unlock a 22-22 tie, seize control and go up 31-22 with 3:06 remaining before the break.
Washington converted just one of its final 10 field goals in the first half and trailed 34-27 at intermission.
With Meah back on the court, the Huskies ran off 10 unanswered points to start the second half and regain the control with a 37-34 lead.
However, Meah picked up his fourth foul and went to the sideline once again with 12:04 left and UW ahead 46-44.
Husky coach Mike Hopkins put Meah back in with about 8:57 left and it took him less than a minute before collecting his fifth foul and being disqualified.
Without their 7-foot-1 center, the Huskies turned to Menifield who took over and drained back-to-back three-pointers that put UW up 60-58.
USC went on another crippling run and outscored UW 12-2 during a decisive four-minute spurt to go up 72-62.
Tre White had a game-high 22 points and eight eights for the Trojans (17-6, 9-3).
Washington has just six regular-season games left starting with a trip to cross-state rival Washington State on Saturday.