SEATTLE – The Washington men’s basketball team may not have played an inspired 40 minutes like coach Lorenzo Romar had hoped, but it did enough to pull out a victory.
The Huskies used a fast start to survive a sloppy finish and defeated USC 87-73 Thursday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Washington – its longest in two years – and moved the No. 21 Huskies (6-5 Pacific-10 Conference, 17-5 overall) from sixth place to fifth in the Pac-10 with seven games remaining.
Washington has a chance to help its NCAA Tournament chances even further when it plays host to No. 13 UCLA at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
“The good news is we got back on the winning track,” Romar said. “The other part of it is we still didn’t do it for 40 minutes. We don’t have any options on Saturday. We’ve got to do it for 40 minutes.”
Thursday’s win was notable both for the balance Washington showed on offense as well as the Huskies’ inability to hold on to a big lead. The Huskies led by as many as 27 points in the second half before USC trimmed the deficit to nine with 2:58 to play.
“I’m very concerned,” said Washington star Brandon Roy, who had 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting and added 11 rebounds. “We had a 27-point lead. They just started making shots. Some were contested, some weren’t. It’s scary when you’re trying to win games going down the stretch.”
Washington went ahead 67-40 on a Ryan Appleby 3-pointer with 9:47 to play. But USC outscored Washington 30-12 over the next 6:12, including a 15-2 run. In that stretch, Washington got sloppy handling the ball and took several ill-advised shots. The Trojans also made six 3-pointers to get back into the contest.
Nick Young, who led all scorers with 28 points, sank a pair of foul shots with 2:58 to play to make it 79-70. But Roy responded with a 3-pointer from the right wing, and USC’s Dwayne Shackelford, who scored all 15 of his points in the last 9:19 of the game, was called for a travel, leading to a pair of Appleby free throws, and the Trojans didn’t get closer than 12 the rest of the way.
“You like to fight, and you hope that you don’t surrender and we had to just surrender,” USC coach Tim Floyd said. “But I was really pleased that our guys did try to compete until the end.”
Romar said the team’s inability to maintain the momentum it had established in the first 30 minutes was less an issue of effort than focus.
“We were in a zone and they hit a few 3s,” Romar said. “They got an offensive rhythm going. Along with that, we didn’t do a very good job of being in sync offensively. They coincided with each other.”
As expected, Romar tweaked his starting lineup, inserting Mike Jensen in place of Jamaal Williams. While Jensen did little in the starting lineup, Williams gave the team a spark off the bench, scoring 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 22 minutes. Williams, who entered the game three minutes into the first half, said it wasn’t a difficult adjustment since he came off the bench all of last season.
“I’m going to come out and be aggressive and try to make things happen when I get in the game,” he said. “That’s what I did. I was able to get some shots to go down early. …It’s nothing new to me. I just have to come out and play hard and do what I have to do to help this team win.”
Romar said he made the switch to “create a little chemistry.” He added he was not sure if he would use the same lineup against UCLA.
When asked if he was OK with the switch, Williams said, “I have no choice but to be. If (Romar) doesn’t change it, I’ve got to deal with it.”
The Huskies opened with their best first half in some time. USC struggled to handle Washington’s pressure defense, missing its first nine field goal attempts before finally getting one nearly 10 minutes into the game. By then, Washington had taken a 15-6 lead.
The lead extended to 15 at 26-11 on a three-point play by Roy and stayed there until a Ryan Francis layin and a three-point play by Lodrick Stewart cut the lead to 33-23.
But the Huskies answered the Trojans’ mini-run with a jump shot by Williams and a Brandon Burmeister 3-pointer, then ended the half with a flourish as Roy scored back-to-back baskets to send the teams into halftime with Washington ahead 44-27.
Washington had five players score in double figures for the seventh time this season, but it was the first time since it defeated Gonzaga on Dec. 4. The Huskies also had 18 assists after having just 14 over their past two games. Justin Dentmon had 12 points, Appleby had 12 points and a career-high six assists and Bobby Jones had 10 points. Washington also outrebounded USC 38-24.
Note: Romar said that freshman Harvey Perry, who has missed the entire season with a back injury, has been cleared to resume practicing without limitations.
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