Jaquez leads No. 9 UCLA past Washington to end 2-game skid

Seattle Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Amari Bailey scored 13 points and No. 9 UCLA beat Washington 70-61 on Thursday night.

UCLA completed a season sweep of Washington and stopped a two-game skid that had followed a 14-game winning streak. The Bruins (18-4, 9-2 Pac-12) also remained in first place in the conference standings.

UCLA dominated inside and defensively in the first half, scoring 26 of its first 30 points in the paint.

Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington (13-11, 5-8) with 23 points.

The Huskies cut the lead to seven points several times in the second half but never got closer. Washington fell behind early and didn’t score for a six-minute stretch. Braxton Meah dunked to end that drought and pull his team within 26-10 with 6:44 left in the first half.

UCLA started the game with Jaylen Clark catching the opening tip between two defenders and scoring on an uncontested layup 5 seconds into the game.

UCLA beat Washington 79-49 last month and has won eight straight in the series.

BIG PICTURE

Washington: The Huskies will need to figure out how to run their offense more effectively against tough defenses if they want to make a run in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

UCLA: The Bruins held the Huskies to 22 first-half points.

UP NEXT

Washington: At USC on Saturday.

UCLA: Hosts Washington State on Saturday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25