SEATTLE — So much went wrong for the University of Washington on Thursday night. The Huskies shot the ball poorly, they committed baffling turnovers, and with a chance to win in the last seconds of regulation, they failed to get off a shot.
Hardly the way to win a championship.
But in a game that seemed as much a struggle with themselves as with visiting Arizona State, the Huskies showed the pride, the determination and the heart to pull out a 73-70 victory over the Sun Devils before a giddy sellout crowd at Bank of America Arena.
Washington improved its Pac-10 record to 12-4 with two conference games remaining. Arizona State is tied for second at 10-5 with three games remaining.
There is still work to do — Arizona and Washington State are due into Bank of America Arena in the next nine days — but the Huskies took a sizeable step toward their first outright conference championship in more than half a century.
“We’ve had some teams with a lot of heart over the years, but the heart of this team just seems to get bigger and bigger,” UW head coach Lorenzo Romar said. “What our guys did tonight, when we were having a very poor shooting night, I thought was very, very special.”
Urged on by their rowdy, purple-clad home crowd, the Huskies never trailed in overtime. Jon Brockman, who was stellar in his third-to-last career home game, scored twice with layins in the early moments to push Washington on top 65-61.
The Sun Devils closed once within one point, 68-67, but the Huskies tacked on five more points from the free-throw line in the closing seconds to cap their victory.
In a conference long dominated by UCLA and Arizona, Thursday’s game was a terrific showdown between two rising programs. Arizona State gave Washington everything it could handle, and the Sun Devils came close to snagging a win in the late moments of regulation.
Could the Huskies kick away a second home game at the end, just like they did against California earlier in the season? It nearly happened late in regulation after Justin Dentmon gave the Huskies a 61-59 lead with an off-balance shot from right of the key with 45 seconds to play.
Arizona State missed at the other end and the Huskies snagged the rebound, but Dentmon inexplicably stumbled in backcourt, allowing Sun Devils standout guard James Harden to make a steal and a breakaway dunk to tie the score.
The Huskies still had a chance to win in regulation, but Dentmon never attempted a shot and even fumbled away the ball just as the horn sounded.
Still, Washington shrugged off memories of its heartbreaking triple OT loss to California and pulled away in overtime. Dentmon finished with six points in the extra session to lead the Huskies.
“We were very fortunate to come out with a win against a very good basketball team,” Romar said. “We were able somehow to find a way to win.”
Brockman finished with a team-high 21 points to go with 11 rebounds, and Dentmon had 16 points. Quincy Pondexter, playing inspired around the basket, chipped in 10 points and 12 rebounds.
And there was the defensive play of Justin Holiday, who harassed the high-scoring Harden much of the night.
“A lot of guys contributed,” Romar said.
“We just play team basketball,” Pondexter added. “We stick together through adversity to get a win. And this was another team effort to get this win.”
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