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Huskies sneak past Montana

UW’s Venoy Overton shoots against two Montana defenders. (Associated Press)
Gregg Bell Associated Press
UW’s Venoy Overton shoots against two Montana defenders. (Associated Press)

SEATTLE — Venoy Overton showed up late for Washington. Twice in one day.

Benched for the first time this season for being 30 minutes late to the morning shoot-around because of a marathon around the arena, Overton made two free throws with 14.5 seconds left. The renowned defensive pest then leaped to block a potential tying 3-pointer by Montana’s taller Anthony Johnson with 6 seconds remaining, allowing the No. 14 Huskies to escape with a 63-59 victory over the gritty Grizzlies on Sunday night.

“I didn’t know he was that big,” the 6-foot-1 Johnson said about Overton, who is generously listed at 5-11. “I didn’t think he had that much vertical.”

The Huskies (5-0) rallied from being down by 12 and from 31 percent shooting to preserve their highest ranking to begin a season since 1985, following four relative blowouts.

“He’s in the offensive dude’s grill the whole game. He’s one of a kind. … It’s ridiculous,” said Isaiah Thomas, who scored 13 points despite starting 1 for 9 from the field.

Freshman Will Cherry scored 15 points for Montana (4-2), including a 3-pointer that had the Grizzlies up 57-55 with 2:40 left and poised for their first win over a ranked team since they upset Nevada in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Johnson, the leading scorer in the Big Sky Conference at 22 points per game coming in, had just 10 on 5-for-14 shooting.

Coach Wayne Tinkle bemoaned Johnson’s last shot, saying it was not the play that he had called. That was another in a series of blown plays at the end for Montana, picked by conference coaches to finish second in the Big Sky.

“Their pressure made us panic a little bit,” said Tinkle, whose team had just beaten Oregon at a similarly hostile arena down Interstate 5. “We had ’em – we just didn’t make the plays at the end. Our guys created some doubt.”

And some ice-cold Huskies. Thomas made just 5 of 16 shots. Leading scorer Quincy Pondexter had just seven and was 2 for 10. He was on the bench for much of the 22-8 run that brought Washington back from a 38-26 deficit with 14 1/2 minutes left.