SEATTLE — In jumping to an early 5-1 Pacific-12 Conference record, the University of Washington men’s basketball team won several times with dramatic comebacks and last-second heroics.
On Sunday night, the Huskies finally ran out of game-saving miracles.
Washington erased a five-point deficit in the late moments of regulation to force overtime, but then went flat in the extra period in an 80-75 loss to visiting Utah.
Against an often spotty UW defense, the Utes finished with five players scoring in double figures, including a game-high 29 points by center Jakob Poeltl. The 7-foot Austrian shot 16 free throws, or twice as many as the rest of his teammates combined and as many as the entire Washington team. He converted 13.
The 5-2 Huskies still share the league lead with Oregon heading into a Los Angeles road trip next weekend. But according to head coach Lorenzo Romar, the game was a missed opportunity to seize sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
“It was a home game and you just can’t give those away,” Romar said. “Those are precious.”
Neither was a late rally to force overtime any consolation.
“We don’t have moral victories,” said guard Andrew Andrews, who led the Huskies with 17 points.
The game was a tight, hard-fought battle throughout with 11 ties and 15 lead changes. The biggest lead for either team was Utah’s five-point margin with 1:30 to play in regulation.
Washington countered with two free throws from Andrews, a defensive stop and a clutch step-back 3-pointer from the right corner by guard David Crisp to make the score 66-66 with 16 seconds remaining in the second half. Without taking a timeout, Utah ran the clock down but failed to get a good shot off at the buzzer.
But in overtime the Utes got the first two baskets on goaltending calls against Washington’s Malik Dime and never trailed the rest of the way. The Utes made their final field goal with 2:17 to play, but then scored their final eight points at the free throw line, including six in a row by Poeltl.
The Huskies, meanwhile, were just 3-for-12 from the field in overtime, including 1-for-7 from the 3-point stripe. Trailing by five, they got a layin by guard Dejounte Murray with 5.5 seconds to play to pull within three, and he was fouled on the play. Murray missed the free throw, apparently intentionally in the hope of an offensive rebound, but the ball bounced out of bounds without being touched and Utah was able to run off the remaining seconds.
A noisy crowd of 8,073 watched the game, “and it sucks that we didn’t get a win for them,” Andrews said. “But I thought we had a great, great crowd.”
“Our crowd was unbelievable tonight,” Romar agreed. “That’s the biggest crowd we’ve had (in a while). … It certainly helped our team. It fueled the fire with our guys a lot. When our guys hit some shots and you could just see how loud it was and how uplifted our guys were. So (the loss) wasn’t the crowd’s fault, that’s for sure.”
The Huskies will play at UCLA on Thursday night and at USC on Saturday afternoon, and both teams will likely be looking for revenge. In Seattle three weeks ago, Washington beat UCLA in double overtime and then defeated USC after erasing a 22-point second-half deficit.
The LA trip “is going to be a big challenge,” Romar said. The Bruins and Trojans “probably felt they should’ve won both games when they were here, so they’re going to come out ready. But I really feel confident about our team.
“I’m not telling you we’re going to go undefeated (in Los Angeles),” he said. “But I feel like any game we walk into we’re going to step up to the challenge and try to meet that challenge. … I look up and we’re still tied at the top of the league. And like I said, I really believe this team will continue to get better.”
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