Wrenn, Dixon lead UW men to victory

Associated Press

SEATTLE – Doug Wrenn made a good impression on the Washington fans.

In the Huskies’ home opener Saturday, Wrenn scored 22 points to lead the team to a 69-49 victory over the Santa Clara Broncos.

“This was a good game, but we were still picked to finish 10th in the Pac-10 so we have a long ways to go,” said Wrenn, a sophomore who sat out last season after transferring from Connecticut.

While Wrenn was taking care of business on the offensive end of the floor, David Dixon was a defensive force in the paint. Dixon set a Washington school record with seven blocks. Washington had 14 blocks in the game.

Santa Clara (0-3) trailed Washington 38-37 with 13 minutes remaining, and the Huskies went on a 22-7 run over 10 minutes to seal the win. Washington’s offense heated up after Wrenn was intentionally fouled by David Emslie on an attempted dunk with 10:19 to play in the game. C.J. Massingale scored 14 of his 15 points during that Husky run.

“They are a very athletic team,” said Santa Clara coach Dick Davey. “They can beat you on the post and beat you on the perimeter. There wasn’t one aspect of their game we were most concerned with; we were concerned with just about everything, truthfully.”

Washington (3-1) has now won 81 of its 99 home openers.

“We stood around so much offensively in the first half that we were just waiting for individuals to make plays,” said Washington coach Bob Bender. “In the second half we screened better, moved better and got better shots.”

Kyle Bailey, Steve Ross and Justin Holbrook scored nine each for Santa Clara.

Erroll Knight added 12 for Washington.

In the first half, neither team shot very well. The Huskies’ interior defense had a lot to do with the Broncos’ .314 field goal percentage as Washington blocked seven shots before the break.

In the first 20 minutes of play, the Huskies shot .375 from the floor and turned the ball over 11 times. They performed better in the second half with only two turnovers.

Santa Clara went on a 13-3 run and led 26-19 with 2:42 to play in the first half. Washington then scored seven of the next nine points and trailed 28-26 at intermission.