Smith, Riley help UCLA rally, beat Washington 67-57

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Smith scored 20 points and Cody Riley added 15 points and seven rebounds as UCLA rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit for a 67-57 win over Washington on Saturday night.

It was UCLA’s second consecutive comeback victory. The Bruins rallied from a 50-38 deficit to beat Washington State 86-83 in overtime on Thursday.

UCLA went on a 9-0 run to take a 58-51 lead. Tyger Campbell’s steal led to a Smith 3-pointer, that gave the Bruins their first lead of the second half at 53-51 with 6:11 left. Smith and David Singleton each had 3-pointers in that run.

UCLA (15-11, 8-5 Pac-12) has won three straight games and seven of its last nine after a 1-3 start in conference play.

Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels each had 15 points for Washington (12-14, 2-11), which has lost eight consecutive games. Stewart added 10 rebounds and two blocks.

The Huskies closed the first half with a 9-2 run to take a 34-27 halftime lead before Marcus Tsohonis hit a 3-pointer and Stewart threw down a dunk to make it a 12-point lead about 90 seconds after the break.

UCLA scored 11 of the next 13 points to cut its deficit to 41-38. Riley made a 3-pointer, a tough basket inside and two free throws during that stretch.

After scoring 11 points in overtime to lift UCLA to a win over Washington State on Thursday, Riley continued to earn more playing time, though he didn’t start.

Stewart tied the school record for blocks by a freshman in a single season. Stewart has 55 blocks this season, as did Marquese Chriss in the 2015-16 season.

This was UCLA’s first regular season sweep of Washington since the 2016-17 season.

BIG PICTURE

Washington: The season is almost over for the Huskies and there are five games left to work on defense and offensive sets. Wins are nice but the Huskies need to improve for next season.

UCLA: The Bruins are becoming known as the comeback kids but they’ll have to figure out those poor first halves before the Pac-12 Tournament and, potentially, the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Washington plays at home the next three games, starting with a game against Stanford on Thursday.

UCLA plays at Utah on Thursday and Colorado on Saturday in its final Pac-12 road trip of the season.