Washington men clamp down on defense to handle Oregon State
Keyon Menifield and Koren Johnson crouched low with their arms spread wide at the top of the three-point arc waiting to pounce on the Beaver ball handlers.
The freshman duo comprised the first line of defense for the Washington men’s basketball team that swarmed, smothered and suffocated a hapless Oregon State into 18 turnovers and 2-for-19 shooting on three-pointers.
Turns out the Huskies were equally sloppy with the ball while committing 17 turnovers, but they were a little better behind the arc (6 for 23), which proved to be the difference in their 61-47 victory on Saturday night.
Jamal Bey, who canned three three-pointers, led Washington with 15 points. Keyon Menifield finished with 12 points and eight assists while Braxton Meah had 12 points and 11 rebounds for UW (15-13, 7-10 Pac-12).
Keion Brooks Jr. and Johnson, who had five steals, each had 11 points.
It was the fewest points this season for a UW opponent.
After a sloppy first half in which both teams combined for more turnovers (25) than field goals (17), Washington led 26-18 at the break.
Meah flushed a dunk over Beavers big man Michael Ratah, which capped a 7-0 run early in the second half gave the Huskies a 33-20 lead with 16:26 left.
Oregon State cut into its deficit and pulled to within single digits, but after a couple of Brooks-to-Meah alley-oop dunks and Johnson’s three-pointer, the Huskies went up 42-27 with 12:02 remaining.
The Beavers made one last run and used a 13-4 spurt to close the gap to 46-40.
However, Washington pushed back and outscored Oregon State 15-7 the rest of the way, including a 13-1 in the final minutes.