Trent Perry and Tyler Bilodeau lead UCLA to win over Washington

It was not pretty, but the UCLA men’s basketball team got a win it desperately needed Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Trent Perry scored 23 points, including clutch free throws down the stretch, Tyler Bilodeau overcame foul trouble to score 19, Donovan Dent had 17 points and 10 assists and Eric Dailey Jr. scored 14 as UCLA held off Washington 77-73 Saturday night in a Big Ten clash at Pauley Pavilion.

“I’m happy with the win. It was our fourth game in 12 days,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “That said, if we keep giving up 50% from the field, our season will end really, really fast. Defensively it’s a fight every day with this group.”

Cronin was assessed a technical midway through the second half after walking 10 feet onto the floor to protest a call, but it seemed to light a fire under his team as Perry knocked down a three pointer on the Bruins’ next possession.

“I’m completely unhappy with the officiating,” Cronin said. “At some point it’s a joke.”

Dent appreciated his coach sticking up for his players during a critical stage of the game.

“It gives you juice when your coach is fired up like that,” Dent said.

Ahead of a pivotal Midwest trip to No. 2 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State starting on Valentine’s Day, the Bruins wrapped up their three-game homestand on a positive note after splitting the first two, a one-point, double-overtime loss to Indiana followed by a 22-point blowout of Rutgers in which five players scored in double digits.

“Experience helps a lot,” Perry said of his improved consistency since last season. “I tried to do too much and did too little last year. We just have to watch film and talk it over. We’re gonna be in these situations again. We’re just glad to get this one out of the way.”

The Bruins (17-7, 9-4) struggled against Washington much as they did in the teams’ first meeting Dec. 3 in Seattle, when they escaped with an 82-80 victory thanks to 25 points (including six three-pointers) by Skyy Clark, who has sat out the past 10 games with a hamstring injury.

“Our best defender’s been out over a month,” Cronin said, referring to Clark. “This team we just played possibly has three NBA players—one for sure. So I’m happy with the win but we’re going nowhere if we don’t become a better defensive team. Last year the three best teams at the end were Duke, Houston and Florida—and they were by far the three best defensive teams in the country. We have great guys but we have to learn how to defend.”

A winner in 10 of its last 14 games, UCLA will not host its next game until a Feb. 21 matchup with fifth-ranked Illinois.

Wesley Yates III scored 12 of the Huskies’ first 16 points as they built an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes. The Bruins pulled ahead 25-23 on Perry’s three pointer with 6:15 left in the half that capped a 9-0 run, but Washington carried a 34-30 lead to the locker room — the first time UCLA trailed at halftime since its loss at Ohio State on Jan. 17.

“We let Yates get off to a hot start,” said Dent, who also had three steals while playing 40 minutes. “We can’t have lapses. We’ll have stretches where we’re really good but others where it looks like we don’t know what the hell we’re doing out there.”

Bilodeau, who scored only four points in the first 20 minutes, hit a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the second half and added another to tie the game, 38-38, a minute and a half later.

“We had no ball movement in the first half, we were stagnant,” Cronin said. “As a coach at halftime you make sure your best players get the most shots. So we got Tyler more involved.”

Dent stole the ball at half-court and drove for a layup to put UCLA in front 47-45 with 13:43 remaining and the Bruins slowly increased the lead while holding the Huskies without a field goal for nearly five minutes.

“After the loss to Ohio State it was a bumpy ride back,” Dent recalled. “Lots of people talked to me to give me confidence and that switched my mindset.”

Washington crept to within 60-58 with 5:39 left on a layup by Yates before Bilodeau’s basket and free throw restored a five-point cushion at the 4:40 mark. Dent’s driving layup made it 67-60 with 1:33 left and the Bruins improved to 13-3 when winning the turnover battle.

Yates finished with 21 points and Hannes Steinbach added 13 for the Huskies (12-12, 4-9), who cut their deficit to two on a layup and free throw by Yates with 23 seconds left. Dailey got fouled and made both shots to make it 75-71 with 21 ticks left. After a layup by Yates with 11 seconds left, Perry sank two free throws to ice the victory four seconds later.

The Bruins were 23-of-29 at the foul line and remain on pace to break the school single-season record for best free throw percentage (75.6) set in 1978-79. Perry was 10-of-11 from the stripe.

“I can’t believe he missed one,” Cronin joked.