LOS ANGELES _ Players were milling about with about five minutes left in the game, UCLA's David Singleton having just missed a three-pointer that might have been a knockout blow amid a big run.
Teammate Chris Smith walked over to Singleton during the break and patted him on the chest in encouragement, telling him to shoot the next time he got the ball.
He certainly did.
Singleton buried a deep three-pointer on his team's next possession, eliciting a smile from Smith and extending UCLA's advantage to seven points during an eventual 67-57 victory over Washington that came the hard way.
"He just told me to keep shooting, we need you to shoot," Singleton said, "so it's really good to have that belief from my teammates. It gives me a sense of confidence and a comfort level."
The Bruins fell behind by 12 points again in the second half, just like they had against Washington State two nights earlier, and the parallels didn't end there. They tightened their defense and used a 13-2 surge to go ahead by seven points before holding on against the Pac-12 Conference's last-place team.
UCLA (15-11 overall, 8-5 Pac-12) averted what was shaping up as a backward march all the way to its December doldrums, instead securing its third consecutive victory and seventh win in its last nine games.
Smith finished with 20 points on seven-for-14 shooting and sophomore forward Cody Riley contributed 15 points and seven rebounds in another strong showing off the bench. Singleton had 14 points, making four of nine three-pointers, including the one that put UCLA ahead 58-51.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin said his team's commitment to working the ball inside against the zone defense changed the complexion of the game.
"That's why David got open shots," Cronin said. "If we wouldn't have gotten the ball to Cody and Jalen (Hill) inside, we would have never come back in this game."
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