Nowell’s late free throws lift UW over Seattle 89-84

Published 1:30 am Friday, November 24, 2017

SEATTLE — Washington’s uncomfortable post-Thanksgiving feeling had nothing to do with gorging on turkey or missing out on a hot Black Friday sale.

The Huskies men’s basketball team could never really pull away from Seattle University. If UW went up by seven points, Seattle found a way to bringing it within one.

Eventually the Huskies (3-2) found breathing room. Freshman guard Jaylen Nowell hit two late free throws to send UW to an 89-84 win over the Redhawks (2-4) on Friday at Alaska Airlines Arena.

“We just focused on moving the ball as a team and attacking them,” Nowell said. “They were in the bonus fairly early. We just made a point to just go at them.”

Nowell, who finished with a game-high 25 points, is showing he can handle late-game pressure. He hit a go-ahead shot in the final 10 seconds of an exhibition game. Nowell also hit two decisive free throws in an 86-82 win over Belmont to open the year.

The former Garfield star hit two more free throws with less than 33 seconds to go for an 85-82 lead over Seattle. On the following possession, the Huskies forced a steal and got the ball into Nowell’s hands.

He was fouled and drained both attempts for a 87-82 lead with 15 seconds remaining. Nowell ended the game by hitting two more foul shots for a 89-84 lead with 4.4 seconds to go.

UW appeared to have found some separation when Nowell was fouled while hitting a jumper with 3:11 remaining to push the lead to 80-75. His free throw made it 81-75.

Then, as expected, Seattle cut the lead.

On the following possession, Redhawks forward Matej Kavas, while double teamed, drilled a 3-pointer off the wing and cut UW’s lead to 81-78.

Seattle would trim the lead to 81-80 with 1:20 to go before junior forward Noah Dickerson converted two free throws for a 83-80 edge with 1:07 remaining.

Kavas, with 53.4 seconds to go, drove inside and hit a jumper outside the paint to bring his team within a point at 83-82.

“Tonight, our guys, they competed. Seattle gave us everything they had,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “Second half, they got hot from the 3-point line … These guys found a way against a really tough opponent.”

Carter III out with fractured hand

About an hour before the game, Washington announced freshman guard Michael Carter III would miss the next six-to-eight weeks with a fractured hand.

Carter was averaging 5.8 minutes per game through four games in a backup role.

Hopkins said the team has a few options. It can either use senior guard Dan Kingma to eat minutes or increase David Crisp’s time on the floor.

The Tacoma native played a game-high 39 minutes and also scored 16 points and had three assists.

“I can go forever. I’m the Energizer Bunny,” Crisp said with a grin. “I’m not tired at all. Whatever Hop needs me to do to help these guys get a win, I’m there.”