No. 19 Washington State grinds out 77-65 win over UCLA

The Cougs send the Bruins home with a loss in what is likely their last trip to Pullman.

Overcoming another slow start, the No. 19 Washington State Cougars rallied again behind strong finishes at the end of both halves to beat the UCLA Bruins 77-65.

In the final 10 minutes of each half, WSU (23-7, 14-5 in Pac-12) outscored UCLA (14-15, 9-9) by a combined score of 43-21. Jaylen Wells led the way for the Cougars with 27 points, hitting all 10 of his charity stripe shots.

With the win, WSU has secured a top two seed in the Pac-12 tournament and can still grab the regular season title with a win on Thursday and if Arizona can drop one of their last two games.

The Bruins came out firing to begin the game, attacking the rim for four straight layups before moving outside and hitting back-to-back treys to race out to a 10 point lead. UCLA hit seven of their first eight shots of the game while WSU was again sluggish to get things going, hitting only two of their first 10 shots and turning the ball over twice.

Lazar Stefanovic pushed the lead out to 13 with a trey before WSU began to wake up. Myles Rice slashed inside on back-to-back possessions for a pair and Wells splashed his first three of the day to slice the lead to six. While UCLA brought the lead back up to 10, WSU delivered a much heavier resistance than they did earlier in the game.

Wells was fouled on a three point attempt, where he hit all three of his shots to cut it back to seven. Rice again flew past the blue jerseys in front of him, exploding up and floating a layup over a Bruin defender to bring the game within five. Thursday’s hero, Isaiah Watts, matched another Stefanovic three with one of his own.

The Cougars continued to scratch and claw their way back into things, this time getting it done at the free throw line. As WSU continued to attack the Bruins interior defense, the Bruins racked up the fouls, sending WSU to the free throw line. The Cougars took advantage of their charity stripe shots, hitting seven of their nine shots in the last four and a half minutes to push WSU in front. Now holding the lead, WSU went back beyond the perimeter with Watts and Wells each tickling the twine to pop the roof off of Beasley. After UCLA grabbed their game high 13 point lead, WSU outscored the Bruins 27-13 in the last 13:36 of the half, including a pair of 8-0 runs in the last 7:25.

On the other end of the court, Rueben Chinyelu was dominant. The freshman swatted away a trio of Bruin shots and reeled in seven rebounds in his 11 minutes of first half play. The three blocks also gave him the most blocks in a season by a freshman in WSU history.

The Bruins again came out firing to open the second half, hitting their first five shots to cut the deficit from eight, to one. Though WSU was able to counter the early UCLA punches, eventually they gave way to the Bruins. A pair of turnovers and a four minute field goal drought spelled doom for the Cougars as the Bruins snatched their first lead since they led 30-29.

Andrej Jakimovski ended the dry spell with a three, but his shot proved to be the end of one drought and the beginning of another. Yet again, WSU could not find their shot and went another three and a half minutes before Jakimovski played drought ender again with a bucket inside. Thankfully, WSU’s defense prevented things from getting out of hand during the drought and held the Bruins lead from getting any bigger than three.

On WSU’s next possession after the Jakimovski bucket, Will McClendon was whistled for a foul that was reviewed and upgraded to a flagrant two after he hit Jones in a place that you don’t want to be hit.

With the lid off the rim now, the shots began to flow like a Saturday night at The Coug for Wazzu. Wells tied the game with his third three and Isaac Jones gave WSU the lead with a strong bucket inside. As the decibel level in Beasley Coliseum began to raise, it rattled the Bruin offense who committed their second shot clock violation in three possessions and their third straight with a turnover. Jakimovski took advantage of the UCLA turnover and drilled a three to make it a two possession lead for WSU.

The Bruins answered with a pair of free throws, but Wells gave it right back to UCLA with a beautiful little fall away jumper to keep the WSU lead at five.

WSU traded missed UCLA jumpers for a quartet of free throws to extend the lead and Rice delivered the dagger with a contested step back jumper.

Wells added four more free throws and Rice delivered the crowd pleaser breakaway dunk in the waning minute to make it a 12 point WSU victory.

Defensively, WSU put the locks on UCLA. The Bruin offense sputtered down the stretch, getting up just three field goal attempts over a six minute span and turning the ball over three times.

Though it may not be as pretty as Smith and company hoped, it was yet another successful weekend for WSU. They grinded out tough wins against teams who were fighting to find a spark they could rally around heading into the final games of the year. Instead of allowing themselves to get comfortable and let these two games get away from them, they did what they’ve done best all season. Just win.

The highlight being the return of the raucous environment that Beasley can be when its near capacity. It was put on display throughout the second half when the Cougs were making their push and made it difficult for UCLA to string together possessions to get themselves back into the game.

Now, with 23 wins — 14 in conference — already in hand, WSU will look to end this magical season on one last high note. By defeating the Washington Huskies on senior night in Beasley Coliseum on Thursday.