Field Level Media
Feb 12, 2021
Isaac Bonton scored 26 points as Washington State knocked UCLA out of a share of the Pacific-12 Conference lead with an 81-73 victory Thursday night in Pullman, Wash.
Aljaz Kunc, who missed Saturday's loss at Oregon State because of illness, came off the bench to score 13 for the Cougars (12-8, 5-8 Pac-12), and DJ Rodman added 11 points.
WSU avenged a 91-61 loss at UCLA on Jan. 14.
Johnny Juzang led the Bruins (13-5, 9-3) with 25 points and seven rebounds. Tyger Campbell added 17 points, five assists and four steals.
The Bruins suffered their third loss in four games to fall a game behind rival USC in the Pac-12 race.
The Cougars led by as many as 23 points, 62-39, with 11:42 remaining before a late UCLA run. The Bruins got within seven points, 78-71, on Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s layup off a steal with 1:18 remaining but couldn't pull any closer.
The Cougars led 42-32 after a first half that featured several runs.
WSU took an early 8-1 lead as Rodman made a pair of 3-pointers before the Bruins responded with an 11-0 run.
The Cougars bounced back with a 12-2 run, capped by eight straight points by Kunc, to make it 20-14. The Bruins never got closer than four points the rest of the half and WSU built its lead to as many as 12 points, 34-22, with 3:59 remaining.
It might have been worse for the Bruins at the half without Campbell's 13 points on 4-for-4 shooting.
Cody Riley returned to the UCLA lineup after missing Saturday's loss at USC with a right ankle injury, but scored only four points before fouling out with 10:16 to go. The Bruins were still without fellow forward Jalen Hill, who is out for personal reasons.
Jaquez, UCLA's second-leading scorer behind the injured Chris Smith with 12.3 points per game, battled foul trouble and finished with just seven points, with four of those coming in the final two minutes. He fouled out with 57 seconds left.
--Field Level Media