Tripped up at end

STANFORD, Calif. – The Washington Huskies suffered their disappointment in waves Saturday.

First, they failed to break down the door for the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball championship.

Then, their hopes of salvaging that championship through the back door also disappeared as Arizona clinched the conference championship against Arizona State.

In a matter of two hours, Washington was twice denied its first conference crown since 1985.

The loss that hurt most was the one they could control: their meeting with Stanford, which began promisingly, but ended as a 77-67 defeat and a hard lesson learned.

“We’ve had a lot of firsts,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “A first last year playing in a conference (tournament) championship. A first playing in an NCAA (tournament). This was a first on the road playing for a conference championship. I don’t think we were as composed as we needed to be to be a champion.”

Instead, the Huskies finished second and will face No. 7 ASU when the Pac-10 Tournament begins Thursday.

“It hasn’t fully hit me yet,” senior Hakeem Rollins said. “You get so close to something you just almost can sense it slipping away. It’s just not a good feeling.”

Washington had expected a celebration.

The Huskies arrived at Maples Pavilion with confidence, and as they went through pregame warmups, everything felt right.

“We knew we were ready,” guard Nate Robinson said. “Every guy was focused.”

For 15 minutes, they played that way.

The Huskies opened with a few minutes of even play, just as they had Thursday in their rout of California.

Then, Tre Simmons hit a 3-pointer as the Huskies separated from their opponent, also echoing that previous rout of Cal.

But when the Huskies tried to put the hammer down – as they had against Cal – they misfired. Again and again.

“At that point, I think we forced about six shots,” Romar said. “I thought we lost our composure.”

UW didn’t score for more than 81/2 minutes.

By the time the drought ended, the game was into the second half, and Stanford had surged ahead, 35-29.

“When we played that Cal game, shooting all those 3s, that could have been a little bit of fools gold as far as relying on those 3s,” senior guard Will Conroy said. “The shots didn’t fall for us tonight.”

Conroy watched Stanford’s comeback from the bench after picking up three fouls in the first nine minutes.

“It’s the worst,” he said of having to watch. “You can’t do nothing but try to cheerleader. The most you can do is stay in it mentally.”

In the middle of the second half, Washington reclaimed a couple of small, short-lived leads. Then Stanford made another run, and the Huskies were helpless to stop it. They fell behind by as much as 11 and turned to futile fouling in the final minutes.

Stanford was led by forward Matt Haryasz, who had a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Stanford 77, (10) Washington 67

Washington (24-5, 14-4)–Jones 4-9 1-2 11, Jensen 0-4 0-0 0, Simmons 3-7 0-0 8, Na.Robinson 4-16 1-1 11, Conroy 4-7 1-2 11, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Roy 7-15 1-1 16, Rollins 5-6 0-0 10, Williams 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-68 4-6 67.

Stanford (17-11, 11-7)–Ni.Robinson 5-8 2-2 12, Haryasz 8-13 7-8 24, Little 1-7 2-2 4, Hernandez 3-8 6-8 12, Washington 2-7 2-4 6, Finger 0-0 1-2 1, Haas 2-7 13-14 18. Totals 21-50 33-40 77.

Halftime—Stanford 31, Washington 29. 3-point goals—Washington 9-24 (Conroy 2-3, Jones 2-4, Simmons 2-4, Na.Robinson 2-8, Roy 1-1, Smith 0-1, Jensen 0-3), Stanford 2-7 (Haryasz 1-1, Haas 1-2, Hernandez 0-2, Ni.Robinson 0-2). Fouled out—Na.Robinson. Rebounds—Washington 34 (Roy 8), Stanford 40 (Haryasz 10). Assists—Washington 13 (Conroy, Na.Robinson 3), Stanford 12 (Hernandez 5). Total fouls—Washington 27, Stanford 11. A—7,233.