Pondexter leads Huskies past 'Cats in gritty 81-75 win

With whistles and technicals and water bottles flying, last night's game between Washington and Arizona was basically what you would expect in a game between two teams who know they can't afford to lose. But the difference last night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion seemed to be that the Huskies had the player who wanted it the most, and when Quincy Pondexter decides the Huskies aren't losing, they rarely do. Especially not at home. Pondexter played perhaps some of the most important 36 minutes of his career in a gutty 81-75 Washington win over Arizona, scoring 30 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to lead his team into a tie for second place in the Pac-10 standings and keep their slim NCAA tournament hopes alive for another day. "He was the difference in the game," said Arizona head coach Sean Miller. Pondexter's personal eight-point run midway through the second half gave the Huskies some separation and got the crowd back into what was a whistle-heavy, contact-filled contest that saw both coaches draw technical fouls. At one point, a fan was ejected after throwing a water bottle onto the floor. This is what happens when the stakes are this high. Pondexter allowed UW to rise above it, and the Huskies also converted 13 of their final 14 free throws to send the 10,000 in attendance home happy for the 15th time this year. "We feel good about ourselves, but not that great, because we didn't play as best as we could," Pondexter said. "We could have cleaned up some other stuff that we did on both ends of the floor." He's right about that. Washington shot just 36.9 percent from the field and made just 69 percent of its free throws. Pondexter, who scored 15 points in the first half, finally got some help in the second half. Tyreese Breshers scored seven of the UW's first nine points of that period in what may have been his best game as a Husky. That run allowed the UW to turn a 37-31 halftime deficit into a 40-39 lead in just under two-and-a-half minutes. More importantly, perhaps, was that Breshers and the rest of the Huskies continued to attack the rim when Arizona freshman forward Derrick Williams was in foul trouble. Williams fouled out after playing just eight minutes, headlining a trio of Wildcats stars who were held to off-nights by an inspired defensive effort. Nic Wise was 4-17 from the field with five turnovers. Jamelle Horne scored two points in 18 minutes. Williams had just three, sitting most of this thing out and depriving UA of any interior threat. "He certainly makes us a better team, a deeper team, a bigger team," Miller said. "All the things that we really need, you can really sense that when he's not out there, it hurts us." But the Wildcats, who beat the UW 87-70 earlier this season in Tucson, Ariz., never went away. "We could see it coming," Pondexter said. "We buckled down defensively and made sure that we weren't allowing anything easy." After Isaiah Thomas scored to give the Huskies their largest lead of the game at 68-58, Arizona responded with a 10-3 run that cut the lead to 71-68 with 1:56 left. Then Thomas missed a long 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, and Venoy Overton was whistled for a foul going after the rebound. Kyle Fogg made one of two free throws to cut the UW's lead down to two at 71-69, and after the Wildcats rebounded the miss and Wise threw up an airball, Overton took it to the rim on the other end and converted two free throws after drawing a foul, giving the UW a 73-69 lead with 49.5 seconds to go. Fogg scored. Overton made two more to make it 75-71 with 30.4 seconds left. Fogg attacked again, got fouled, and made one of two free throws. Scott Suggs made the free throws for the Huskies this time, drawing a foul on a breakaway dunk attempt before hitting two freebies to extend the lead to 77-72. But Arizona caught a bit of a break on its next possession, Fogg appearing to be fouled on the floor but making a layup that was ruled good before hitting the ensuing free throw to cut it to 77-75. It didn't matter. Overton made another two free throws. Then Wise missed a 3-pointer, and Pondexter, just for kicks, added another two free throws with 0.2 on the clock to ice things for real. Overton went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, never missing in the final minutes when the Huskies simply couldn't afford to. "Venoy's a gamer," UW head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "When that game was on the line, he knocked those free throws down. That's kind of how he is." Washington (15-7, 5-5 Pac-10) now sits just one game out of a four-way tie between California, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State for first place, with the Sun Devils coming into Hec Ed tomorrow night. "Can't believe it, man," Pondexter said. "Can't believe it. But we had a feeling it was going to come back to us, with how wacky the Pac-10 was this year." Thanks to him, they're one game closer to making it that much wackier. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

Pondexter leads Huskies past 'Cats in gritty 81-75 win

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