LOS ANGELES — Washington wants to keep control of its postseason prospects. The Huskies took an important step by making it to the Pac-10 tournament final.
Quincy Pondexter scored 19 points and Washington defeated Stanford 79-64 in a matchup of poor shooting teams in the semifinals Friday night.
The third-seeded Huskies (23-9) will play No. 1 seed California (23-9) in Saturday’s title game, with the winner earning the league’s automatic NCAA tournament bid.
“It’s an opportunity for us to win a championship and also maybe make sure we take it out of the committee’s hands for the NCAA tournament,” Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We have to do everything in our power to make sure it happens.”
Washington hasn’t been to the championship game since 2005, when it beat Arizona for its lone tourney title. Cal reached its only final in 2006, losing to UCLA.
The Pac-10 may only get its champion and one other team into the NCAA tournament after having six teams in each of the last two years.
“We haven’t been given an invitation,” Pondexter said.
Isaiah Thomas added 17 points and Justin Holiday 11 for the Huskies, who led all the way in winning their sixth straight against Stanford — equaling their streak against the Cardinal from 1974-77.
“It’s always a challenge because both teams are so familiar with one another,” Romar said about beating Stanford three times this season.
Landry Fields led Stanford with 20 points. The seventh-seeded Cardinal (14-18) improved their shooting to 31 percent by game’s end, but were just 26 percent from 3-point range.
“It’s definitely not the way you want to go out,” Fields said. “Losing by 20 and losing by one are kind of different things. It’s a tough night to have a night like this because it’s a no-tomorrow type deal.”
The Huskies built their largest lead, 59-39, on a one-handed driving dunk by Matthew Bryan-Amaning. It capped an 18-8 spurt, including seven by Thomas.
Washington’s Darnell Gant put on a dunk contest in the final two minutes. He elicited cheers for consecutive dunks, the first coming off a no-look pass; the second on a fast break. Scott Suggs fed him a bounce pass that he put up with both hands.
The Huskies were 25-of-29 from the line, with Pondexter making all nine of his attempts and Thomas also perfect on seven tries. But they were 4-of-16 from long range, and didn’t boost their field-goal percentage to 41 percent until late in the game.
A 3-pointer by Emmanuel Igbinosa helped the Cardinal avoid tying the tournament record for fewest points in a half, set by Washington State with 16 in 1988. They trailed Stanford 28-19 at the break.
The teams shot a combined 15-for-52 in the half, with Washington needing 10 minutes to become the first team to reach double figures. The Huskies led by 11 on a jumper from Holiday.
“They do a great job of turning defense into offense very quick,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “So all of a sudden they’re in transition. Take a bad shot, they turn you over, and then all of a sudden the game can get away from you awful quick.”
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