Brown scores 23 and Cal holds on late to beat Huskies 78-75

The Huskies had a chance to tie moments later when Jabari Bird fouled Matisse Thybulle on a rebound after Tyrone Wallace missed his second free throw attempt and the Bears leading 77-75

Thybulle had been perfect — 6 of 6 — on a night the Huskies struggled at the free-throw line until the final minutes.

Wallace added one more free throw and the Bears were able to escape with their first road victory since winning at Wyoming in overtime on Dec. 5.

California was 7 of 16 at the free-throw line in the final 1:45 after going 19 of 25 for the first 38-plus minutes.

Washington lost its fourth straight and missed out on a needed victory for its NCAA tournament hopes.

The Huskies likely need a major surge in the final weeks of conference play and an impressive showing in the Pac-12 tournament to get back into the NCAA conversation.

Thybulle hit a pair of free throws for Washington, but Malik Dime tried a difficult reverse layup instead of attacking the rim for a dunk that could have cut the Bears lead to two.

Chriss' jumper with 6:53 left snapped a string of seven straight shots missed by Washington and was its first field goal in more than six minutes.