Cal holds off Washington
Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half and California held on in the final seconds to beat Washington 78-75 on Thursday night in Seattle for just its second road win of the season.
Brown struggled early but could not be stopped when he started attacking the rim. Brown scored six straight points for the Golden Bears midway through the second half as California picked up its first road victory since winning at Wyoming in overtime on Dec. 5.
But the Bears nearly choked it away the final few minutes. California led by 10 points with 2:39 left, but saw Washington pull within one with six seconds left on Andrew Andrews’ 3-pointer. Tyrone Wallace split free throws with 4.1 seconds left and Jabari Bird was called for a foul on the rebound. Matisse Thybulle, who was 6 of 6 at the free-throw line, rimmed out the first free throw and purposely missed the second. Wallace got the rebound and added one more free throw as the Bears held on.
Andrews led Washington with 18 points, but the Huskies were left to lament going 25 of 38 at the free-throw line.
Washington lost its fourth straight and missed out on a needed victory for its NCAA tournament hopes. The Huskies likely need a major surge in the final weeks of conference play and an impressive showing in the Pac-12 tournament to get back into the NCAA conversation.
Wallace and Jordan Mathews both added 18 points off the bench as California won its fourth straight.
Marquese Chriss added 17 points for Washington and Dejounte Murray scored 14, but was just 4 of 10 at the free-throw line.
Utah 75, UCLA 73: Jordan Loveridge scored 17 points and the Utes held off the Bruins’ furious charge over the last six minutes to win at Los Angeles.
Jakob Poeltl added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Kyle Kuzma added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Utes, who let a 14-point second-half lead dwindle to two, took sole possession of third place in the Pac-12 with four games left.
Isaac Hamilton scored 25 points to lead UCLA, which remained tied for ninth and has five games remaining. The Bruins have lost three of their last four home games.
Utah’s frontline of 7-foot Poetl, 6-9 Kuzma and 6-6 Loveridge outscored UCLA 40-24 in the paint and had a 35-31 rebounding advantage. For Poeltl, it was his 11th double-double of the season.
After UCLA rallied from a 14-point deficit to pull within 70-68, Brandon Taylor hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left.
After Thomas Welsh made a layup, the Utes found Kuzma alone ahead of the field on the ensuing inbounds play for a clinching dunk with 3 seconds remaining. Aaron Holiday hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.