Fultz scores 14 as UW edges WWU 109-103 in exhibition opener

Published 10:00 pm Thursday, November 3, 2016

SEATTLE — Before an exhibition game that wound up far more competitive than most expected, Washington Huskies freshman Markelle Fultz made a shot from beyond halfcourt. One-handed. Over his head, with his back to the basket.

He has done this before, many times, and it has earned some level of acclaim from his Twitter followers. He doesn’t always make the shots — on Thursday, he made one, then missed several before making another — but Fultz does make it look easier than it is.

That’s the scouting report on his game, too. A 6-foot-4 guard from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Fultz is reputed for his smooth command, particularly as a scorer and distributor.

If Thursday was any indication, the Huskies will need him to do a lot of all of that.

Washington did eventually beat Western Washington, winning its first and only exhibition game of the season, 109-103, after Fultz took over in the final minutes before a sparse crowd at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The game was, uh, well, it wasn’t great. The Huskies did not look particularly comfortable on the defensive end, allowing several open 3-point looks while looking a bit lost at times. They committed 16 turnovers — “negligence,” coach Lorenzo Romar said — that led to 22 points for WWU, and they made only 34 of 52 free-throw attempts.

“We’ve got to do a lot of work on the defensive end to tighten things up and not let teams score 100 points on us,” sophomore guard Matisse Thybulle said. “It’s OK if we do it, but we can’t let other teams do it to us.”

Some issues, of course, were to be expected. The Huskies experimented with lineups, bringing Fultz and senior forward Malik Dime off the bench, going instead with a starting lineup of guards David Crisp, Bitumba Baruti and Thybulle, and forwards Sam Timmins and Matthew Atewe.

Fultz has missed a few practices recently because Romar wants him to rest after a busy summer, so he played only 23 minutes. He finished with 14 points, five assists, seven rebounds, a blocked shot and three turnovers.

“He has more tricks up his sleeve,” Romar said, adding that Fultz will be ready to play 40 minutes if needed when the regular season begins. “Put it like that.”

Fultz’s first field goal was a 3-pointer from the left wing, which he followed with a driving layup on UW’s next possession. He twice dished to players for easy dunks — first to Dime, then to Thybulle — and impressed with a behind-the-back dribble in transition before firing a one-handed bounce pass to Dominic Green cutting toward the hoop.

“It was a great experience for me,” Fultz said. “We’ve got a lot we can work on. That’s good still coming out with the W.”

WWU, the Division II program from Bellingham, did not appear timid or in awe of its Pac-12 foe. The Vikings made six 3-pointers in the first half and shot 44.4 percent from the field, tying the score at 39-39 after a 9-0 run.

They hung around, thanks in large part to guard Jeffrey Parker, who netted four 3-pointers and a handful of step-back jumpers to finish with a game-high 28 points. His free throws with 4:21 left to play gave the Vikings an 87-84 lead before Fultz brought the Huskies back with a pair of impressive driving layups and a pair of free throws.

After Dime’s follow dunk gave the Huskies a 93-89 lead, Fultz dished to Green for an and-one basket. He made the free throw to give UW a seven-point lead with 2:29 to play, and Western didn’t come closer than three after that.

Green, the sophomore guard from Renton, led the Huskies with 25 points. Crisp added 23, Thybulle had 17, and Dime and Timmins, the freshman forward from New Zealand, added 10 points apiece.

Romar said UW needs to take more pride on the defensive end.

“There were a number of times they shot the ball and our hands were down,” he said. “You have to contest those guys’ shots like that, good shooters. That burned us a number of times with that. So we just have to get better at the details defensively.”