UW Leans On Defense To Beat Gu

At halftime, Washington trailed Gonzaga 39-36. With 6:01 to go, the Bulldogs were up 67-66.

“The defense won the game for us,” 7-foot Todd MacCulloch said as the Huskies wound up winning 88-82 Tuesday night in their final tuneup for the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball season that gets under way next week.

“We turned the ball over too much and that will kill you on the road against a good team,” said Gonzaga’s super sophomore, Matt Santangelo, who scored a career-high 34 points.

Deon Luton scored 25 points to lead Washington.

The Huskies (7-2), bouncing back after a 17-point loss at South Alabama eight days ago, finished the nonconference part of their schedule by going 5-0 at home.

They got career-high performances from Luton and Donald Watts (23). MacCulloch contributed 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Washington, which opens its Pac-10 slate against Washington State here Monday night, capitalized on Gonzaga’s season-worst 24 turnovers.

It was those mistakes that troubled Gonzaga coach Dan Monson.

“We played awfully hard and competed awfully well, but didn’t play awfully well, making some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Monson said. “As a result, they just kind of wore us down.”

Santangelo almost shot the Bulldogs (10-3) to victory, hitting 10 of 19 shots, including four 3-pointers. Bakari Hendrix added 27 points.

“We knew he was a great player,” Luton said of Santangelo. “He kept his team in the game.”

Washington coach Bob Bender said it was critical for Luton and Watts to keep contributing to keep the pressure off MacCulloch on the inside.

“That’s going to be really important for us throughout the Pac-10 schedule,” Bender said.

Gonzaga, which has a victory over Clemson this season, had its last lead at 67-66 after a layup by Quentin Hall with 6:01 left. Washington went ahead to stay at 70-67 on two free throws by MacCulloch at 5:39 and a dunk by Luton with 5:17 to go.

The Bulldogs trailed 74-72 after two free throws by Santangelo with 3:14 on the clock before Washington scored six unanswered points, four by MacCulloch, for an 80-72 lead with 1:07 to go.

“Early in the game, we did a good job of keeping the ball out of his hands,” Monson said. “But we just got fatigued and he got one-on-one in the post. Down there, he’s the best shooter in the country.”

Hendrix and Santangelo combined for 30 points in the first half with Hendrix getting 18 on 8-for-10 shooting. Santangelo hit a baseline jump shot with 17 seconds left in the half.

“I don’t think they had an answer at the point for Santangelo, and they didn’t have an answer for Bakari,” Monson said. “But, on the other side, we didn’t have an answer for MacCulloch.

“I did like how hard we played. If we do that every night, we’ll get better and get rid of some of our mistakes.”

Washington 88, Gonzaga 82

GONZAGA (10-3) - Leasure 0-2 1-2 1, Hendrix 11-16 3-5 27, Dench 1-2 0-0 3, Santangelo 10-19 10-10 34, Frahm 4-10 2-3 11, Hall 1-4 0-0 2, Floyd 1-2 0-0 2, Nilson 0-1 0-0 0, Calvary 1-1 0-0 2, Griffin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 16-20 82.

WASHINGTON (7-2) - Luton 10-17 2-3 25, Femerling 0-0 1-2 1, MacCulloch 9-12 5-6 23, Wooten 0-5 4-4 4, Watts 7-13 9-12 23, Dickau 1-2 4-4 6, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-14-6 4, Walcott 0-0 2-2 2, Green 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 31-39 88.

Halftime-Gonzaga 39, Gonzaga 36. 3-Point goals-Gonzaga 8-14 (Santangelo 4-4, Hendrix 2-2, Dench 1-1, Frahm 1-4, Leasure 0-1, Hall 0-2), Washington 3-12 (Luton 3-7, Wooten 0-1, Dickau 0-1, Watts 0-3). Fouled out-Hall. Rebounds-Gonzaga 27 (Leasure 9), Washington 29 (MacCulloch 12). Assists- Gonzaga 14 (Hall 3), Washington 15 (Luton 4). Total fouls-Gonzaga 28, Washington 20. A-6,535.