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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Wilcox guides Washington past UCLA in Pac-10

UW’s C.J. Wilcox, right, and UCLA’s Jerime Anderson give chase to a loose ball in the second half in Seattle. The pair scored 40 of 84 total points in the second half. (Associated Press)

On a night when he seemed to hit every clutch 3-point shot he took, University of Washington guard C.J. Wilcox ended up converting his most important three-point play from inside the arc.

By half an inch.

Having already scored all of his 21 points after halftime – 12 of those coming on 3-pointers – Wilcox bailed the Huskies out of a possible shot-clock violation by rising up with a toe on the 3-point line and hitting an off-balance two-pointer with 2:38 remaining. After getting hit on the head and converting a free throw, Wilcox gave the Huskies a 59-53 lead over UCLA on Thursday night at Seattle.

The freshman sharpshooter ended up scoring 24 second-half points to lead UW to a 70-63 win over UCLA (21-9, 12-5 Pac-10). In the process, the Huskies (20-9, 11-6) got back to their winning ways at home while putting an end to the Bruins’ dreams of an outright conference championship.

While defense was just as big a factor in this win, the second-half scoring outburst of Wilcox was hard to overlook. He scored as many points over the final 20 minutes as the entire UW team had in the first half.

“That’s a performance I’ll never forget,” head coach Lorenzo Romar said. “To me, that’s maybe one of the best performances in the history of the program.”

Wilcox picked a good time to catch fire, seeing as how the rest of the Huskies fared from the field. Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning combined for 16 points on 6-of-23 shooting, marking the first time the pair had both been held to double-figure scoring in the same game all season.

As much as Wilcox carried the offense, the Huskies’ team defense was just as important to the victory. UW held the Bruins under 40 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers.

Senior Justin Holiday held UCLA star Tyler Honeycutt to six points and 0-for-6 shooting.

(18) Arizona 70, Oregon St. 59: Derrick Williams had 15 points and 12 rebounds, Lamont Jones added 17 points and the Wildcats moved a step closer to their first Pac-10 title in six years with a win over the Beavers in Tucson, Ariz.

Arizona (24-6, 13-4) pulled away in the second half to move within a game of its first undefeated home season in 12 years. Devon Collier led the Beavers (10-18, 5-12) with 12 points.

Arizona St. 73, Oregon 53: At Tempe, Ariz., seniors Rihards Kuksiks and Ty Abbott scored 22 points apiece in their next-to-last home game, and the Sun Devils sank 16 3-pointers to beat the Ducks for the second time this season.

Kuksiks made a season-high seven 3s in 15 tries, while Abbott was 6 of 12 from long range for the Sun Devils (11-18, 3-14). Jay-R Strowbridge scored 17 points for the Ducks (14-15, 7-10).