Cougs beat UCLA for weekend split

Perhaps Washington State’s poorest performance of the 2015-16 season was quickly followed up with one of its best.

Josh Hawkinson had 20 points and 10 rebounds for yet another double-double as hot-shooting Washington State upset No. 25 UCLA, 85-78, Sunday night at Beasley Coliseum, notching a rare win over the Bruins.

Que Johnson and Renard Suggs added 14 points each for the Cougars (9-5, 1-1 Pac-12), which lost badly to Southern California in the conference opener Friday night at home.

“I challenged this team because we felt like we found out who we were over in Hawaii (at the Diamond Head Classic),” Washington State coach Ernie Kent told the Washington State IMG network afterwards. “For some reason, in between our last game there (win over New Mexico) and opening up Pac-12 play, we lost some of that. Sometimes you have to go through some adversity to get attention and get yourself back on track.

Isaac Hamilton scored 27 points for UCLA (9-6, 0-2), which was coming off a double-overtime loss at Washington. UCLA's Bryce Alford, coming off a 30-point performance at Washington, was held to nine points.

Washington State shot 60 percent (15-25) in the second half and 55 percent (31-56) for the game while holding the Bruins to 41.1 percent (30-73).

“My hats off to our guys because we did not play well (against USC) and they knew it,” Kent said. “So, we challenged them and they bounced back. This is the team we found in Hawaii – smart, tough defensively, shares the ball. Everybody is on their game and can score. Just playing heady basketball throughout the course of a 40-minute game.”

After a UCLA basket tied the score at 40-40 early in the second half, Washington State commenced an 11-5 run to take a 51-45 lead.

Suggs completed a three-point play to run the Washington State lead to 61-51 with just under 11 minutes left. A pair of 3-pointers by Johnson lifted the Cougars to a 67-55 lead with nine minutes left.

The Cougars made 13 of their first 17 shots in the second half, while the Bruins were making just 8 of 22 in that stretch.

“We wanted to have the pace of the game faster,” Kent said. “It gave us a chance to get out and run and play a little more freer before they put their zone on us. We got a little stagnant at the close of the first half, then in the second half we got moving again. We went up tempo and got running. I thought that was the difference in the game.”

WSU finished with 20 assists on 31 baskets for an assist-to-basket ratio of 64.5 percent.

“It’s the reason we have five guys in double figures, because we shared the ball,” Kent said.

Center Connor Clifford was 5-for-5 form the field for 10 points and three rebounds in 18 valuable minutes as he battled UCLA’s contingent of big men.

“I thought Connor grew up in Hawaii and he played really well in this game,” Kent said.

Hawkinson hit a pair of basket to maintain the Washington State lead at 77-65 with 3:51 left. When Hamilton's 3-pointer for UCLA cut the Washington State lead to 78-72, the Cougars drained four straight free throws to push the lead back to 10 points with 43 seconds left, and the Bruins were forced to foul.

Washington State led 40-36 at halftime. Washington State took a 12-7 lead on Charles Callison's 3-pointer. But Hamilton, who scored 14 points in the first half, tied it at 12 with a 3-pointer. From there the teams traded baskets. Derrien King hit a 3-pointer and then a layup to lift Washington State to a 21-18 lead.

Hawkinson hit a 3-pointer and Ny Redding hit a pair of free throws to put the Cougars ahead 37-31.

UCLA leads the all-time series, 103-17, but Washington State has won three straight over the Bruins in Pullman.

Hawkinson posted his ninth straight consecutive double-doubles.

The upset victory over UCLA made amends for Washington State’s dismal showing Friday night in a 90-77 loss to USC at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars fell behind early by double digits and never caught the Trojans despite making a couple of runs in the second half.

Nikola Jovanovic led Southern California with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Jordan McLaughlin added 19 points for the Trojans, whose seven-game winning streak was snapped Sunday at Washington. USC had lost 10 straight Pac-12 road games since winning March 6, 2014 at Washington State.

Josh Hawkinson led WSU (8-5) with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Ike Iroegbu, the only other Cougar with more than nine points, had 13.

USC led by 25 points three times in the first half before taking a 54-37 lead at intermissions. The 54 points in the first half were a season high for USC and against Washington State.

LAST FIVE RESULTS:

Dec. 22 vs. Oklahoma (at Honolulu, HI), L 88-60

Dec. 23 vs. Northern Iowa (at Honolulu, HI), L 63-59

Dec. 25 vs. New Mexico (at Honolulu, HI) W 82-59

Jan. 1 vs. USC, L 90-77*

Jan. 3 vs. UCLA, W 85-78*

NEXT FIVE GAMES:

Jan. 9 vs. Washington, Noon* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 14 at Arizona State, 5 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 16 at Arizona, 6:30 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 21 vs. Utah, 8 p.m. (FS1)*

Jan. 23 vs. Colorado, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)*

(All Times Pacific)

* Pac-12 Game

PAC-12 RESULTS (Sun. Jan. 3)

Washington State 85, UCLA 78

Arizona 94, Arizona State 82

Washington 87, USC 85

Oregon State 70, Oregon 57

California 71, Utah 58

Colorado 56, Stanford 55

(WSU Athletic Communications contributed to this report).