Huskies dump LSU in second half
BATON ROUGE, La. – Washington on Saturday pulled out what coach Lorenzo Romar called “a great gut-check win.”
After trailing by 14 points at halftime, the Huskies (8-4) relied on their depth and inside strength to rally and defeat LSU 73-65.
Tim Morris and Quincy Pondexter combined for 22 second-half points.
“It’s one thing to do this at home. It’s another thing to do it on the road against an SEC opponent,” Romar said. “We came back in the second half and went right at them offensively.
“It was just a matter of going stronger to the basket in the second half.”
Washington trailed by 16 points late in the first half and took their first lead of the day on a 3-pointer by Ryan Appleby that put the score at 49-47 with 11:10 left in the game.
The non-conference game went back and forth, and was tied three more times, before Washington took the lead for good.
A three-point play and field goal by Pondexter, followed by another 3-pointer from Appleby gave the Huskies a 61-53 edge. Jon Brockman added a foul shot before a short-lived LSU rally in the waning minutes of the game.
With 1:51 left, Washington led 70-59, and LSU (7-5) never got closer than within eight points the rest of the way.
Pondexter led Washington with 17 points, 11 of those coming in the second half. Morris scored all but four of his 15 points in the second half. Also scoring in the double digits were Brockman, with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Appleby, with 12 points.
Chris Johnson led LSU with 19 points. Marcus Thornton scored 18 points, Terry Martin added 14 and Anthony Randolph had 10.
LSU started strongly, making seven of its 11 field-goal attempts to go ahead 17-7. The Tigers had a double-digit lead for most of the first half and led 41-27 at halftime.
“In the first 20 minutes we were as good as we can be,” LSU coach John Brady said. “In the second half, we weren’t able to establish the energy level we created in the first half. They stepped up, from a physical standpoint, and we weren’t able to match it.”
Washington scored 12 straight points after the break, while LSU missed nine shots and turned the ball over three times during that stretch.