Huskies too much for Eagles
SEATTLE – Jamaal Williams scored a career-high 26 points and Brandon Roy added 25 as No. 11 Washington cruised to a 91-74 victory over Eastern Washington on Friday night.
The win extended the nation’s longest home-court winning streak to 30 games at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Until Eastern Washington trimmed the lead in the final 2 minutes, the game was on par with Washington’s national-best 26.5-point scoring margin coming in.
Freshman Jon Brockman had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (9-0), who were unranked to begin the season but are off to their best start since 1976, when they began 14-0.
The Huskies still have five more games at home before playing their first game on an opponent’s campus, Jan. 12 at Southern Cal.
Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points for Eastern Washington (4-4).
Stuckey was the national freshman leader in scoring coming in with an average of 20.3 points per game. That was on 49 percent shooting through seven games. But he shot just 30 percent (6 for 20) against Washington.
The Eagles’ three-game winning streak came to a halt late in the first half when Washington ran off 11 unanswered points to take a 42-22 lead. Williams had two baskets in the lane and Roy provided a stylish, breakaway, double-clutch dunk to highlight the decisive spurt.
“They came out and brought the energy,” said Eastern coach Mike Burns. “But that’s the way Washington plays at home. You know the first 5 minutes they are going to get after you and they did.”
Williams scored his team’s first eight points, after leading the Huskies with 22 in an 81-71 win last Saturday over New Mexico. He made five of his first seven shots in this one.
“They weren’t doubling me at the time,” Williams said. “I felt I had the advantage against. … I don’t even know who was guarding me. I took advantage of the opportunity.
The Eagles kept it close for a while, beating Washington down the court in transition and taking advantage of some sloppy play by the Huskies. Seven straight points cut the Huskies’ lead to 18-14 and Eastern stayed within four until a short jumper by Roy sparked an 18-2 Huskies run that pushed the lead to 42-22.
We withstood that first spurt and then we got our bearings together,” said Burns. “We were in the game toward the end of the first half and then they just went on that run and that was an effort run. They just gave greater effort than we did and that was the difference in the game right there.”
The Huskies’ 19-point halftime lead grew to 29 twice in the first 6 minutes of the second half. Roy had nine more points in that span.
“I had a mentality to be a lot more aggressive,” Roy said. “Tonight I was like, I need to be more aggressive because in bigger games, no matter what, guys are going to look to me to be more aggressive.”
Brockman sustained that 20-plus point margin by scoring seven straight points before he left the game with 4:27 left.
Stuckey still managed to impress Washington coach Lorenzo Romar.
“That’s a good basketball player,” Romar said. “If he was a senior, he’d be a good basketball player, but he’s only a freshman. He’s kind of had his way with opposing teams.”
Henry Bekkering scored 15 for Eastern, while Deuce Smith added 14 points. Derek Risper and Stuckey topped the Eagles with six rebounds apiece, while Stuckey added six assists.
Washington 91, EWU 74
Eastern Washington (4-4) – Beitinger 2-6 0-0 5, Williams 4-9 0-0 8, Butorac 3-6 0-0 6, Stuckey 6-20 3-4 17, Smith II 5-10 4-4 14, Penoncello 2-3 0-0 5, Bekkering 6-9 3-3 15, Humphrey 0-0 0-0 0, Zumwalt 0-0 0-0 0, Risper 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 30-67 10-13 74.
Washington (9-0) – Jones Jr. 0-2 0-0 0, Williams 12-18 2-2 26, Brockman 6-9 4-6 16, Roy 10-16 5-6 25, Dentmon 2-3 1-1 5, Smith 3-7 0-0 7, Burmeister 0-3 0-0 0, Potter 0-0 0-0 0, Appleby 3-9 0-0 8, Wallace 1-2 0-0 2, Gasser 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 38-73 12-15 91.
Halftime—Washington 49, Eastern Washington 30. 3-point goals—Eastern Washington 4-17 (Stuckey 2-7, Penoncello 1-2, Beitinger 1-3, Bekkering 0-1, Smith II 0-4), Washington 3-14 (Appleby 2-6, Smith 1-2, Burmeister 0-1, Gasser 0-2, Roy 0-3). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Eastern Washington 34 (Risper, Stuckey 6), Washington 39 (Brockman 10). Assists—Eastern Washington 20 (Stuckey 6), Washington 21 (Dentmon 6). Total fouls—Eastern Washington 18, Washington 16. A—9,876.