SEATTLE — Of course Washington’s up-and-down basketball season came down to free throws. It was just too fitting.
And of course, with the game and the season on the line Wednesday night, the Huskies missed said free throws.
Not like it hadn’t happened before.
In a season of poor free-throw shooting and late-game struggles, the Huskies missed key free throws and couldn’t come up with the plays at the end of a game to pull off a win. The result was a season-ending 72-71 loss to Valparaiso in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational in front of just 3,227 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
“It just seemed like the thing things that have been biting us in the butt all year long bit us in the butt at the end of the last game of the year,” senior guard Ryan Appleby said. “It’s tough.”
A team that shot just 58.6 percent on free throws for the season made just three of 12 in the second half and 11 of 24 for the game (46 percent). The final two were misses by Jon Brockman, who was fouled with 4.7 second to play and his team down one.
The Huskies (16-17) still had a chance after Brockman’s second miss. Tim Morris tipped the rebound, which eventually ended up in Justin Dentmon’s hands. Dentmon got off an off-balanced shot in the paint that missed. Jarryd Loyd rebounded the miss and dribbled down the court to seal the win for Valpo (22-13).
Brockman said that missed free throws were “something that has lost us a lot of games and that’s a great example. We could have won the game. You win some, you lose some. You make some, you miss some. I just feel bad for our guys. I can’t help but feel like I let them down a little bit.”
Missed free throws aside, however, Brockman was far from a letdown to his team. Coming off the bench with a sprained ankle, Brockman had a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds on 9-for-13 shooting in 26 minutes of action.
It was undecided if Brockman would even play when the game started, and Lorenzo Romar said he came into the game hoping he wouldn’t have to use the junior forward, who sprained his ankle in Washington’s last regular season game, missed the Pac-10 Tournament and had not practiced prior to Wednesday’s game.
Those plans changed when Artem Wallace went down with a knee injury — believed to be an ACL injury of some sorts — in the first minute of the game, and Washington struggled to generate offense with Brockman on the bench.
The loss drops the Huskies to 2-7 this year in games decided by four points or less. The Huskies had plenty of chances in the final minutes before Brockman’s missed free throws, but did not score after a Joel Smith 3-pointer gave them the lead with 3:10 remaining. From there, Washington missed its last eight field goals, allowing Shawn Huff’s jumper with 2:45 remaining to stand as the game-winner.
“Down the stretch we certainly had our chances and we didn’t capitalize,” Romar said. “They took advantage of their opportunities.”
Valparaiso, which came to Seattle with the reputation of being a 3-point shooting team, instead beat the Huskies in the paint. With Wallace out and Brockman slowed by his ankle, Crusaders forwards Bryan Bouchie and Urule Igbavboa combined for 37 points.
Despite ending their season on a down note, the Huskies didn’t regret their decision to play in college basketball’s newest postseason tournament.
“I’d do it again if I had another chance,” Brockman said. “The way I look at it, the more games you can play the better.”
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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