No. 22 Washington tops San Francisco 86-71
APNews
Dec 27, 2009
Quincy Pondexter scored 22 points and No. 22 Washington started slowly, briefly gave away a big lead, then cruised to an 86-71 victory over San Francisco on Sunday.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning added 13 points and six rebounds for the Huskies (9-2), who were coming off a surreal victory over No. 19 Texas A&M on Tuesday night in which Aggies senior Derrick Roland broke his right leg.
Pondexter and Washington coach Lorenzo Romar spent Wednesday visiting Roland in the hospital, where he had surgery to repair multiple fractures sustained in a grotesque, on-court fall.
On Sunday, Washington's only senior had his eighth 20-point game of the season in helping the Huskies become the 16th team in NCAA history to win 1,600 games. The Pac-10's only ranked team won its ninth home game in nine dates this season, and begins its defense of the conference championship Thursday against Oregon State.
Rashad Green and Moustapha Diarra scored 14 points apiece for San Francisco (4-10), which lost for the 10th time in 12 games.
The Dons cut Washington's 16-point, halftime lead to 47-43 with 11:43 remaining, following a jumper and a 3-pointer by Michael Williams. It was only 53-47 before the Huskies went on a 13-2 run. Isaiah Thomas twisted on a fast break and threw a shot in high off the glass while getting fouled for his first basket in eight shots.
Washington's second-leading scorer at 18.8 points per game entering Sunday then extended both arms with his palms facing upward as if to exclaim "finally!"
Bryan-Amaning had six points in the spurt, including a thunderous dunk following a steal and an over-the-shoulder pass from Elston Turner. A basket by Turner off a steal by Venoy Overton and another emphatic slam by Bryan-Amaning off a deft pass inside by Overton had the Huskies comfortably up 66-49 with 6 minutes remaining.
San Francisco hasn't beaten a Pac-10 team since Dec. 2, 1997, when the Dons beat California.
Dior Lowhorn, the two-time defending scoring leader of the West Coast Conference, came in averaging 19.2 points per game, but missed eight of his first nine shots while Washington took control. Lowhorn finished with 13 points, on 5-for-16 shooting.
San Francisco took a 16-15 lead on a shot inside by Diarra with 8:16 remaining in the first half. The Dons didn't score another field goal the rest of the period.
Washington seized control by scoring the next 14 points, and 20 of the final 23 in the half. Pondexter had the first seven of those. Thomas, maligned for shooting too much earlier this season, found Overton on a backdoor pass for a score and then faked a jumper and found Tyreese Breshers under the basket for another assist and a 26-16 Huskies lead.