UW 79, OSU 60 postgame
Published 11:02 pm Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Huskies pulled off quite a second-half turnaround to earn a 79-60 win that was a lot more difficult than the score might indicate.
“It definitely didn’t [feel like a 19-point win],” said junior forward Quincy Pondexter, who finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. “Oregon State is a good team. They’re not a last-place team like they were last year. They’re pretty good.”
The win makes Washington 18-6 overall and 9-3 in the Pac-10, half a game better than UCLA, which lost to Arizona State tonight.
“It’s great to be back in first place, but it could be short-lived in this conference, because it’s really tough,” said Pondexter, who has scored in double figures in nine of 12 Pac-10 games. “We’ve got to chip away one game at a time and come out and play as hard as we can.”
To use a way over-used sports cliché, this game was a tale of two halves (hey it’s late, and this is blog, I can be lazy here).
Washington committed 10 first-half turnovers while shooting 36 percent, while the Beavers shot 46.9 percent. In the second half, Washington adjusted well to OSU’s Princeton offense and 1-3-1 zone and shot 64 percent, turned the ball over four times and held the Beavers to 29.2 percent shooting.
Oregon State, an 0-18 team in the Pac-10 last year, is clearly playing much, much better under first-brother-in-law Craig Robinson.
Justin Dentmon, who should probably just get it over with and have his name legally changed to “resurgent senior Justin Dentmon” led the way with 28 points, two short of a career high, and a season-high seven assists. His seven three-pointers matched a career high, and Dentmon moved into 19th place on Washington’s career scoring list ahead of Nate Robinson.
