7-6 freshman leads Irvine over Huskies

SEATTLE – The tallest NCAA player came up big on Thursday night when 7-foot-6 freshman Mamadou Ndiaye scored 18 points and added nine blocks and eight rebounds to lead UC Irvine to an 86-72 win over host Washington.

Ndiaye closed out the first half with a three-point play to put UCI (1-2) ahead 38-36, then he had an emphatic dunk to spark a 19-3 run over the opening 51/2 minutes of the second half.

Will Davis had a team-high 22 points for the Anteaters, while Luke Nelson added 11 points and six assists.

Washington’s C.J. Wilcox had a game-high 24 points in the losing effort. The Huskies (1-1) were playing without 6-foot-10 post player Jernard Jarreau, who suffered a season-ending knee injury over the weekend, and Washington had no answer for Ndiaye.

UCI shot 59.6 percent (34 of 57) from the field and outrebounded Washington 42-36. The Huskies shot 37.5 percent.

Ndiaye scored most of his points on interior passes over a Washington defender, which he continually put in on dunks or easy layups. He was a force at the back of UCI’s zone defense while altering several shots without picking up a foul until almost 7 minutes into the second half.

Over an 81/2-minute span that began with just under 3 minutes left in the first half, the Anteaters outscored Washington 27-3 to take control of the game.

UCI closed the first half with an 8-0 run to take a 38-36 lead into halftime. Ndiaye, a freshman from Sudan who attended prep school in Southern California, hit a layup with 0.2 seconds left to give the Anteaters their first lead in more than 11 minutes, then he added a free throw to complete a three-point play.

The Huskies tied the score on a Nigel Williams-Goss shot 20 seconds into the second half, but UCI promptly went on a 19-1 run over the next 5-plus minutes to take control. The lead got as big as 21 points, and Washington never got closer than 13 points over the final 15 minutes.