Huskies roll to beat Portland St.

SEATTLE – Anthony Washington isn’t accustomed to being an offensive force.

But Friday, his Washington Huskies teammates fed him the ball as though they were playing a game of catch, only Washington rolled to the hoop at will in leading the Huskies to a 73-65 non-conference season-opening victory over Portland State before 5,980 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Washington led the Huskies with 14 points, coming mostly on short, rolling hooks and layups. He was too strong and too athletic for any Vikings defender, so his teammates fed him pass after pass inside and watched him work.

“We want to get the ball into the post,” UW guard Will Conroy said. “We want to establish Big Anthony and (Hakeem Rollins) and (Mike Jensen). We’ll have a lot of guys hold it and let the big guys post and re-post.”

This was a different Huskies team than advertised. Instead of a guard-oriented, fast-breaking, tear-their-heart-out pressure squad, it became a team that did most of its scoring off a set offense.

Some of that was by necessity because the guards were either hurt, coming off illness or in foul trouble. Washington’s guards, who will be heavily depended on for the brunt of the Huskies’ scoring, were just 10-for-34 shooting from the field.

Nate Robinson, slowed with a sore ankle, finished with just four points on 2-for-9 shooting. Brandon Roy scored 11 points, but was just 2-for-11. Curtis Allen was 2-for-7. Tre Simmons, who didn’t practice all week because of flu symptoms, played just three minutes. Conroy, who finished with 11 points, picked up his fourth foul 2 1/2minutes into the second half and sat a lot of minutes.

So it was The Big Guy’s chance.

“I was surprised,” Washington said. “I missed shots, but they still gave me the ball. I said, ‘OK, I’ll take it.’ They showed confidence in me. That’s all I needed, somebody other than my dad to show confidence in me.”

That confidence grew with every entry pass.

“It’s a lot different from last year,” Washington said. “I know what to do with the ball this year. It’s my opportunity to do something I practice.”

Even so, it was an uneven performance against the Vikings (0-1), picked to finish last in the Big Sky Conference by the media.

Washington forced 28 turnovers, which makes it that much more shocking that PSU hung around as long as it did. The Huskies blew a big early lead and trailed 40-38 with 16 1/2minutes left in the game.

The Vikings, behind guard Blake Walker (20 points) and ex-Mountlake Terrace High School star Seamus Boxley (15 points, nine rebounds), gave the Vikings life whenever the Huskies threatened to run away.

Sheu Oduniyi’s 3-pointer with 6 1/2minutes left pulled the Vikings to just a 54-53 deficit, but that was as close as PSU would get.

Rollins converted an offensive rebound, Washington nailed a turnaround jumper and later scored off an offensive rebound himself to spark the Huskies to an eventual 67-57 lead with three minutes left. Portland State couldn’t recover.

“We battled back and tonight was a good message for us,” PSU coach Heath Schroyer said.

The Huskies blew an early 24-8 lead with cold shooting and lax defense. Washington built the advantage by forcing 15 turnovers in the first 13 minutes and turned them into 18 points.

All that went out the window when Portland State started taking better care of the ball and the Huskies suddenly went as cold as the night air. Washington was 4-for-12 in the final eight minutes and let the Vikings tie the game at 32 with two minutes left on a fastbreak layup by Walker.

Brandon Roy hit a pair of free throws and Bobby Jones (11 points, three rebounds, four steals, two blocks) converted a layup to give the Huskies a 37-32 advantage, but Oduniyi nailed a 16-foot jumper at the buzzer to pull PSU to a 37-34 deficit at the half.

Patience, UW coach Lorenzo Romar said, was what abandoned his team.

“That could be our Achilles heel,” Romar said. “That is something we have to overcome. We cannot be that impatient. We have really good guards and they feel that way, too. We just have to be more selective.”