Huskies outright champs
UW stands alone after Cal loses finale
Washington received plenty of help to win the outright Pacific-12 Conference regular-season championship.
Thank you, Stanford.
The Cardinal upset rival California 75-70 on Sunday, keeping the Golden Bears from a share of the conference crown.
Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar watched the game with his wife, Leona, at their Bellevue home and admitted he was a little nervous when Cal closed the gap to two points in the final minutes.
“I was getting some sweaty palms,” he said.
The Huskies had a chance to wrap up sole possession of the title Saturday, but lost 75-69 at UCLA.
Despite the defeat, Romar doesn’t believe Washington (21-9, 14-4 Pac-12) backed into its second outright title since 1953.
“We were picked fourth (in the preseason media poll) and four guys from last year were gone,” he said. “We lose Scott (Suggs), who may have been a starter, so you could say we lost five key pieces from the previous year. And still our guys found ways to win 14 games.
“So I don’t see it as backing in at all. I see it as we got better and we improved as the year went on.”
Washington enters the Pac-12 tournament in Los Angeles as the two-time defending champion and No. 1 seed. The Huskies will face either No. 8 Washington State (15-15, 7-11) or No. 9 Oregon State (17-13, 7-11) in a quarterfinal at noon Thursday.
Stanford 75, California 70: Chasson Randle scored 17 points, Aaron Bright had 12 points and hit some big free throws in the final minute, and the Cardinal denied the rival visiting Golden Bears a share of the Pac-12 regular-season title.
Andrew Zimmermann added 13 points to help the Cardinal build a 15-point halftime lead they never surrendered. Stanford also sealed a 20-win season for the first time since coach Johnny Dawkins’ opening year in 2008-09.
Allen Crabbe scored 20 points and Harper Kamp added 19 points and seven rebounds as the Bears fell short of sharing the conference crown with Washington and securing the top seed in the league tournament. Cal, which beat Stanford 69-59 in Berkeley on Jan. 29, has won only two of its last 11 trips to Maples Pavilion.
Arizona State 87, Arizona 80: Arizona’s chances for an at-large NCAA tournament berth were hanging on the rim before the Wildcats faced rival Arizona State in Tempe. The Sun Devils’ upset could well have doomed that possibility once and for all.
Danish freshman Jonathan Gilling scored a career-high 21 points and shot 5 of 6 from 3-point range, and Arizona State overwhelmed Arizona’s usually stout defense with a 49-point second half.
Carrick Felix scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half for the Sun Devils, who finished the game with six free throws in the final 30.9 seconds, four of them by Trent Lockett, who also scored 21. Jordan Bachynski had 11 points and blocked six shots for Arizona State.
Kyle Fogg had 23 points for the Wildcats, but was 7 of 17 shooting.
Arizona’s Brendon Lavender matched his career best with 18 points on 6-of-8 3-point shooting. Solomon Hill scored 16 points and Jesse Perry 15 for Arizona.
The final seven-point margin was the biggest lead for either team.
The Wildcats probably have to win the Pac-12 tournament to make the NCAA field.
“We’re not good enough to be an NCAA tournament team right now,” Wildcats coach Sean Miller said.
| Washington | 14 | 4 | 21 | 9 |
| California | 13 | 5 | 23 | 8 |
| Oregon | 13 | 5 | 22 | 8 |
| Arizona | 12 | 6 | 21 | 10 |
| Colorado | 11 | 7 | 19 | 11 |
| UCLA | 11 | 7 | 18 | 13 |
| Stanford | 10 | 8 | 20 | 10 |
| Oregon St. | 7 | 11 | 17 | 13 |
| WSU | 7 | 11 | 15 | 15 |
| Arizona St. | 6 | 12 | 10 | 20 |
| Utah | 3 | 15 | 6 | 24 |
| Southern Cal | 1 | 17 | 6 | 25 |