Huskies wear down Idaho
SEATTLE – Keoni Watson scored 19 points, but a strong second half by the No. 13 Washington Huskies proved too much for the Idaho men’s basketball team as the Vandals fell 87-66 in non-conference play at the Bank of America Arena.
The Vandals (1-5) stayed close throughout the first half, holding the lead twice and building a three-point advantage on four occasions. Washington (6-0) scored 49 points in the second half to build a large advantage after leading by just nine at halftime.
“I’m really proud of the effort we displayed in what we knew coming in was going to be a really tough game,” Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. “We felt we really had to answer the bell in the first five minutes and we got after it defensively right from the start. We had a really tough time keeping them off the rebounds. Some of that comes from our lack of size, but it also comes from having someone in the right spot blocking out on every shot.”
Washington jumped to a 7-0 lead before Mario Mackey broke Idaho’s shooting slump with a 3-pointer at the 16-minute mark. The Vandals cut the lead to 7-4 before Washington hit 3-pointers on its next three possessions to jump to a 16-8 lead.
It was then Idaho’s turn to hit three consecutive 3-pointers, getting baskets from Watson and another from Mackey at the 12:37 mark that gave the Vandals their first lead, 17-16.
The Vandals later pushed ahead 21-18, an advantage they matched three more times. The final one came at 27-24 with 8:08 left before an Idaho scoreless streak of 7:22 let the Huskies build a 36-27 lead. Idaho finally broke the cold streak with a basket with 46 seconds remaining and Washington scored the final basket of the half to take a 38-29 lead into halftime.
The Huskies extended their lead to 43-29 after scoring the first five points of the second half. A steady streak of UW offense stretched the Idaho deficit to 62-43 with 10:15 left.
The Huskies later grabbed their biggest lead of the contest, 76-52, but Idaho cut the UW lead to 17 on two occasions.
“We didn’t back down,” Pfeifer said. “We played hard all the way until the end. We have done that now on multiple occasions, but we haven’t always played smart. We had some unfortunate lapses.”
Washington 87, Idaho 66
Idaho (1-5)- C.Johnson 2-5 4-4 9, Crowell 2-5 0-0 4, Nwoke 0-1 0-0 0, Watson 6-13 4-4 19, Mackey 5-11 1-3 15, Avworo 1-2 0-1 2, Webb 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 2-5 2-2 6, Morris 3-9 0-0 7, Madsen 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 23-55 11-14 66.
Washington (6-0)- Pondexter 9-14 5-6 25, Brockman 3-9 1-4 7, Hawes 2-8 3-4 7, Oliver 2-5 3-3 7, Dentmon 2-7 0-0 4, Perry 0-2 1-2 1, Burmeister 2-5 2-2 8, Appleby 4-10 0-0 11, Wallace 1-5 1-2 3, Gasser 2-3 5-6 9, Nelson 2-7 0-0 5. Totals 29-75 21-29 87.
Halftime—Washington 38-29. 3-Point Goals—Idaho 9-20 (Mackey 4-8, Watson 3-4, C.Johnson 1-1, Morris 1-5, Crowell 0-2), Washington 8-25 (Appleby 3-9, Pondexter 2-3, Burmeister 2-5, Nelson 1-5, Oliver 0-1, Dentmon 0-2). Fouled Out—Crowell, Nwoke. Rebounds—Idaho 26 (Crowell, C.Johnson 4), Washington 50 (Brockman 14). Assists—Idaho 10 (C.Johnson 3), Washington 16 (Dentmon 4). Total Fouls—Idaho 24, Washington 14. A—9,562.