Keion Brooks Jr. leads Washington to easy win over UCSD

Keion Brooks Jr. had game-high totals of 18 points and 12 rebounds as Washington defeated UC San Diego 83-56 in a nonconference game Tuesday night in Seattle.

Sahvir Wheeler added 17 points, a game-high eight assists and six rebounds for the Huskies (4-2). Koren Johnson and Braxton Meah both scored 14. Meah had a perfect shooting night, going 4 of 4 from the field and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line in just 15 minutes.

Bryce Pope scored 15 points and Justin DeGraaf added 11 off the bench for the Tritons (4-3), who might not want to return to Seattle anytime soon. UCSD was undefeated before arriving in town last week, then lost three games in five days — to Idaho on a neutral court Friday and against host Seattle U on Sunday before Tuesday's result.

The Huskies, coming off an eight-day break, looked the fresher team, outscoring UCSD 25-0 in fastbreak points. Washington also had a 54-34 rebounding edge, grabbing 19 on the offensive end, and outscored the Tritons 38-18 in the paint.

Brooks scored 10 points in the first half as the Huskies took a 34-24 lead into intermission. Moses Wood scored all eight of his points in the first 20 minutes, making a pair of 3-pointers on six attempts. The rest of the Huskies were 0-for-10 from long range in the half.

After the Tritons scored the game's first basket on a turnaround jumper by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, the Huskies put together an 8-0 run on driving layups by Brooks and Wood, a jumper in the lane by Wheeler and an alley-oop dunk by Meah and never trailed again.

The Huskies twice led by as many as 14 points in the first half as they held UCSD to 25-percent shooting (8 of 32) before the break.

UCSD senior forward J'Raan Brooks, a Seattle native who played at Washington in the 2020-21 season, fouled out with 11:45 remaining after playing just eight minutes. Brooks went scoreless.

—Field Level Media