UW slips past Sun Devils
Sophomores helps Huskies find way, advance at Pac-10 tourney
DAN RALEY, P-I REPORTER
LOS ANGELES -- The Washington basketball team got stuck in neutral.
Luckily for the Huskies, Jon Brockman and Justin Dentmon know something about using a clutch, or coming through in the clutch.
On Wednesday night, the sophomores together put a collective foot down. After the UW had trailed by 11 early and fell behind late, these two veterans finally got their seventh-seeded club moving forward at the 10th Pac-10 tournament, leading them to a difficult 59-51 victory over Arizona State and staving off first-round elimination at the Staples Center.
With 3:53 left to play, Dentmon hit a little floater in the key to give the UW (19-12) the lead for good, 48-47, and Brockman was his typical immovable self inside much of the way, topping his team with 16 points and all rebounders with 10.
Thus ended an inartistic game, allowing the Huskies to complete a three-game season sweep of the 10th-seeded Sun Devils (8-22) and sending them into tonight's quarterfinal against No. 2 Washington State (24-6), a team that has beaten them four consecutive times over two seasons.
"With me personally having never beaten them, it's a big game," Brockman said of the Cougars. "We've got to have a great game."
The Huskies, as invincible at home this season as they were easily beatable on the road, ultimately found they could cope with the impartial setting provided by a half-full gym in downtown L.A.
Yet it was a struggle to keep their faint NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
"It was kind of a tough, kind of a nasty game, kind of a game where you let out a breath and say, 'Whoa, we got it done,' " Dentmon said.
ASU's aggressive matchup zone clearly bothered the Huskies, so much that they trailed much of the opening half. They never led over the first 16 minutes, forging only a 5-5 tie.
They fell behind by as much as 21-10, when the Sun Devils' Derek Glasser drove for a basket at the 8:58 mark -- which meant the UW had failed to score even a point a minute to that point.
"It's hard not to get down on yourself and say, 'We're down by 11 and out of it,' but there was a lot of game left," Brockman said.
The Huskies were able to shift momentum like a Santa Ana wind, not once but twice. They closed out the first half by outscoring Arizona State 22-3, including 15-0 over the final five minutes. They pounded the boards hard and went to the foul line because of it, picked up a couple of Dentmon treys and survived Quincy Pondexter's retaliatory shove and technical foul.
With 6:51 left in the first half and players battling furiously inside for a rebound, ASU's Antwi Atuahene fouled Brockman. Pondexter, in the middle of this mess, took exception to the rough play and shoved Atuahene in front of an official. That earned the freshman forward a lecture from coach Lorenzo Romar and a seat on the bench.
"He hammered Jon pretty bad and grabbed him by the back of his shoulders," Pondexter said. "I didn't think that was right."
This little interlude did nothing to slow the Huskies. They grabbed their first lead of the game, at 25-24, when Brockman hit one of two free throws, and cruised to a 32-24 advantage at intermission
A month earlier, ASU had trailed the Huskies by 23 at half in Tempe and came out of the locker room recharged and made it a game again. The same thing happened here.
The Sun Devils pressed the issue, chipping away at the deficit until deep reserve Steve Jones dropped in a 3-pointer from the right corner to reclaim a 39-38 lead. They stayed in front for the next six minutes, pushing ahead 45-41 and causing Romar to impatiently throw down a clipboard on the sideline to get everyone's attention.
"At that point, there was a crossroads," Romar said. "I didn't feel we had a whole of energy and this was not the time to not have energy."
Message received. Ryan Appleby tossed in a 3-pointer, Pondexter stuffed through a two-handed dunk and the UW had instant combustion and the lead again, 46-45. Jeff Pendergraph responded with his own dunk, putting ASU back on top one last time.
Dentmon, who finished with 13 points, picked up his most important pair when he dribbled into the key and dropped in a soft shot. A free throw contest ensued to the final buzzer, with the outcome sending ASU home and bringing Washington State into play. The UW is still three wins shy of entering the NCAAs.
On Staples' neutral floor, the Huskies now will need to go from first gear to second.
DAN RALEY