SEATTLE – It had been awhile since Justin Dentmon heard his name announced as a starter for the Washington men’s basketball team, but on Thursday he took steps to make it a regular occurrence again.

Getting a start for the first time since Dec. 31, the Huskies sophomore point guard rewarded head coach Lorenzo Romar’s decision by having the best game of his career, leading the Huskies to a much needed upset of No. 7 Oregon, 89-77 in front of a sold-out crowd at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The victory broke a three game losing streak for Washington (2-6 Pacific-10, 12-7 overall), which kept its hopes of a NCAA Tournament berth alive with its biggest win since a Dec. 20 victory over LSU. The loss was just the second of the season for Oregon (6-2, 18-2), which was playing without star guard Aaron Brooks, suspended for a confrontation with Huskies guard Ryan Appleby during last year’s Pac-10 Tournament.

The win showed just how important playing at home is to Washington, which improved to 12-1 at Hec Ed. The Huskies are 0-6 on the road. And it certainly helped Dentmon to be playing in front of a home crowd.

Dentmon wasn’t perfect – he turned the ball over six times – but he was as confident and assertive as he’s been in some time, scoring a career-high 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting, pulling down six rebounds and getting seven assists. He learned he’d be starting earlier this week and says he doesn’t plan on being out of the lineup again anytime soon.

“I’m back in there and I don’t think I’m going to ever get out because I’m going to work hard and bust my tail,” Dentmon said.

Romar said that while this may have been the best Dentmon has played, it wasn’t the first time he’s played well in the last month, pointing to the Bay Area trip two weeks ago as games the guard started to turn things around.

“He had been steadily coming along,” Romar said. “Tonight showed how much progress he has made from his earlier season slump. Hopefully he can continue to play at this level. There’s no reason he can’t.”

Dentmon didn’t do it all, though. Spencer Hawes and Jon Brockman came alive in the second half, combining for 19 points and the duo each finished with solid numbers, Hawes scoring 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting and Brockman getting 14 points and eight rebounds. Appleby had 16 points on 4-for-7 3-point shooting.

And Romar may have had the biggest assist of all.

With 13:27 to play, the UW coach was called for a technical foul after Quincy Pondexter was whistled for a foul going for a rebound. Romar slammed his jacket to the ground, earning the technical, and Bryce Taylor sank both free throws, giving Oregon a 65-63 lead. But the rare technical against their coach seemed to spark the Huskies, who outscored the Ducks 26-12 from that point on.

The run was started by a 3-pointer from backup center Hans Gasser and Hawes followed with a dunk. The teams traded baskets and the UW led by 1 when Appleby made a 3-pointer and Brockman made a pair of free throws. The Huskies then opened it up to a 10-point lead on a Hawes hook and four Brockman free throws and Oregon never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Romar was asked if he was looking for a technical to get his team going.

“I never want a technical, but…,” Romar said.

“We came together and it was like, he did that for us,” Dentmon said. “He usually doesn’t get techs. He did it for a good cause.”

Oregon coach Ernie Kent said his team missed Brooks, the Pac-10’s leading scorer.

“He is our leader and we know that,” Kent said. “But at the same time, he has nothing to do with blocking out Brockman and blocking out Spencer on the boards. That’s not Aaron.”

Both teams shot well, with Oregon making 54.7 percent and Washington making 52.5 percent. Bryce Taylor led the Ducks with 19 points and Chamberlain Oguchi – starting for Brooks – had 15. But Oregon also had 18 turnovers, which led to 25 Washington points and the Huskies outrebounded the Ducks 33-22.

Washington wasn’t sure if this is the game that will get things clicking, but Dentmon and Romar said it was a good start.

“Coach told us in practice we have one more bullet left,” Dentmon said. “And we didn’t miss. We came out and we wanted to win. I think we wanted it more than they did.”

“It’s headed that way,” Romar said. “We did things that would suggest that we’re headed in a positive direction based on tonight.”