Wesley Yates III scored a game-high 25 points as Washington opened defense of its Acrisure Holiday Classic title with an 83-66 victory against Nevada on Thursday in Palm Desert, Calif.
Zoom Diallo added 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, Franck Kepnang had 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field with five rebounds and four blocks, and Quimari Peterson scored 13 with six boards.
The Huskies (5-1) will meet Colorado on Friday for the championship. The Buffaloes defeated San Francisco 79-69 earlier Thursday.
Tayshawn Comer led Nevada (4-3) with 16 points and Elijah Price added 12 with eight boards. Corey Camper Jr. — the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer with 16.8 points per game who scored a career-high 27 in a 77-64 victory Saturday against UC Santa Barbara — was limited to five points on 1-of-8 shooting.
Yates, who transferred back to Washington after spending last season at USC, scored 17 of his points in the second half as the Huskies pulled away, extending their lead to 67-48 with 7:09 remaining. Yates finished with four 3-pointers, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Diallo scored 13 points in the first half as the Huskies took a 34-28 lead.
A three-point play by Diallo gave the Huskies a 12-11 lead and sparked a 10-0 run in which he scored seven.
Shortly thereafter, the Wolf Pack put together a 6-0 spurt and tied the score at 20-all before Yates’ 3-pointer put the Huskies back out front and they maintained the advantage the rest of the way.
Nevada center Joel Armotrading took an elbow to the chest while defending Kepnang with 12:05 remaining in the first half and didn’t return. Kepnang was called for a foul on the play.
The Huskies played without starting forwards Hannes Steinbach and Bryson Tucker because of ankle injuries.
Washington shot 8-for-14 from 3-point range and made 27 of 36 free throws.
