By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – This was what Hec Ed was supposed to be.
The rafters on the 74-year-old barn are supposed to be shaking from thunderous decibel levels. The student section is supposed to bellow smarmy serenades at the No. 19 Oregon Ducks, leading with the chant of “OVERRATED.” People are supposed to scream. Shake their fists. Make the place unbearable for anyone not wearing purple.
Washington’s 97-92 Pacific-10 Conference victory over the Ducks Thursday night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion was a return of the wild, leather-lunged UW fan hungry for good – make that GREAT – basketball.
Washington and Oregon provided it. Big time.
Doug Wrenn, busier than an Enron paper shredder, scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Point guard Curtis Allen nailed all 12 of his free throws – six in the last 32 seconds to seal it – to lead the UW men to the upset victory over the Ducks.
“I was hoping our students would jump onto the floor,” Wrenn said, smiling. “I always see it on ESPN.”
That was about the only shortcoming Thursday night.
The Huskies, coming off a 45-point loss to Stanford, having read area newspaper columnists bleating that coach Bob Bender should be shown the door, came out with energy and poise not often seen in a season whose course was heading in a disastrous direction.
“This win,” guard C.J. Massingale said, “was huge for us.”
How huge will tell in the coming games, which likely will determine Bender’s future. The sharks, in the form of impatient alums and media unwilling to wait for a baby of a team to mature.
“It was a motivation for us,” said Allen, who finished with 18 points. “It was a good win, because Coach Bender is a way better coach than (those in the media) try to make him out to be. It was a good win for him and for us as a whole.”
Bender typically brushes off questions about his future. He was again adept as sidestepping questions about how much he himself needed a victory to hang on to a job more than a few believe he is not worthy of keeping.
” (It was important) only for the team,” Bender said. “We needed a win. There’s a lot of the season left. Our goal of having a winning season is attainable, but it’s not if you let opportunities slide by.”
It was just the second win in nine Pac-10 games for Washington, which lifted its overall record to 8-11.
The Huskies opened leads of 11 on three occasions in the first half. As good as Oregon (6-2 conference, 14-5 overall) is, it was not a shock that the Ducks responded with feverish runs. But unlike in games past, Washington responded.
The Ducks quickly erased an 8-point halftime deficit to lead 60-59 on a free throw by Luke Jackson with 16:48 remaining. From then on, it was a street fight that had the crowd in sweating convulsions.
The game had 13 lead changes and 11 ties. It was not until the last 2:50, when reserve guard Josh Barnard nailed a jumper in the lane to give Washington an 82-81 lead, that the Huskies were able to finally turn the Ducks away.
Wrenn and Allen were magnificent down the stretch. On back-to-back possessions, Wrenn’s 12-foot baseline jumper was goaltended by 7-2 center Chris Christofferson and Wrenn beat Luke Jackson for a 4-foot jumper in the lane.
Wrenn’s efforts gave Washington some breathing room in the form of an 88-83 advantage with 40.8 seconds left. The Huskies were able to withstand Frederick Jones’ kamikaze drives to the basket that resulted in free throws.
That was because Allen made his free throws down the stretch.
“There’s no one else we want to have at the line other than Curtis,” Bender said.
Point guard Luke Ridnour buried a 3-pointer to lift the Ducks to a 93-90 deficit with 11.3 seconds left, but Allen and Wrenn closed it with two free throws apiece.
Wrenn scored 18 as the Huskies took a 52-44 halftime lead. Washington finished the half with a 10-0 run, sparked by a reverse slam by Wrenn off steal by Will Conroy and a 3-pointer by Wrenn. Later, Massingale scored a layup off his own steal to give the Huskies a 52-41 lead with 1:35 remaining.
Jones led the Ducks with 27 points. Ridnour added 23.
No middle: The teams’ two centers, Oregon’s 7-2 Christofferson and Washington’s David Dixon, saw little action in the first half after two quick fouls apiece. Christofferson played two minutes of the first half and was scoreless. Dixon was 2-for-2 from the floor and had four points before he committed his second foul four minutes into game.
Christofferson picked up his third foul 30 seconds into the second half and returned to the bench. Dixon followed with his third 15 seconds later, but remained in the game – that is, until he was whistled for his fourth five seconds after that.
Dixon fouled out after 11 minutes of play. Christofferson finished with three points, all of free throws.
Lineup change: Massingale made his third start of the year for the Huskies Thursday night, in place of Erroll Knight at off-guard.
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