Battle’s big 1st half helps UW to win over Oregon State

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Isaiah Stewart scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, RaeQuan Battle scored 11 first-half points in the first start of his career, and Washington beat Oregon State 64-56 on Thursday night.

Washington (12-6, 2-3 Pac-12) rebounded from a miserable trip to the Bay Area with a pair of losses last week thanks to a new-look lineup that provided the Huskies a needed spark. Jaden McDaniels did not play after starting the first 17 games. McDaniels did suffer an ankle injury in the overtime loss to California last Saturday.

With McDaniels not playing, Battle, a Marysville Pilchuck High School alum, was inserted into the starting lineup and gave Washington the kind of outside presence it needed with a trio of 3-pointers in the first half. The shooting from the outside opened up the lane for Stewart in the second half as the Beavers were unable to run constant double teams at Washington’s star freshman.

Stewart made 6 of 9 shots, while Marcus Tsohonis scored 12 points off the bench in his first extensive action of the season. Jamal Bey and Nahziah Carter both added 10. The Huskies were 9 of 22 on 3-pointers, and made 6 of 11 in the first half. They were shooting just 31.7% on 3s entering the game.

Kylor Kelley led Oregon State (12-5, 2-3) with 16 points and Tres Tinkle added 15. But Tinkle was just 2 of 12 from the field and the Beavers missed their first eight 3-point attempts. It was a dud of a response by the Beavers after last Sunday’s impressive home win over Arizona.

Washington led by as many as 18 in the second half, but it was a big first 20 minutes and the unexpected contribution from Battle that keyed the victory

Battle had appeared in just six games and played a total of 35 minutes scoring eight points. But he was an unexpected starter with McDaniels not playing and Washington still adjusting to losing starting point guard Quade Green last week when he was ruled academically ineligible.

Battle knocked down his first shot on a corner 3 on Washington’s first possession. It was the start of a big first-half when the Huskies got just two points from Stewart.