Game Daily: This week in Husky history -- Cutting down the nets

Mar 2, 2016, 4:48 PM

After a 56-year drought, the 2008-09 Washington men’s basketball team captured the Pac-10 conference title and celebrated by cutting down the nets at Alaska Airlines Arena after the 67-60 victory over in-state rival Washington State. “Unbelievable feeling,” senior Jon Brockman told The Daily of cutting down the nets. “You see it on TV every year, and you want to be in that position. And when I got up there, it was about 100 times better than it was on TV.” In the locker room at halftime, head coach Lorenzo Romar pulled out a pair of scissors to motivate the team to stay strong and keep fighting after the break. “It was our last time to be together and reflect,” Romar told The Seattle Times. “I thought showing those scissors, maybe you could drive home the point that it’s this close. This is how close we are. No matter what ails you, regardless of how tired you are, the finish line is this close. The scissors represented that.” After the game on March 7, 2009, fans stormed onto the court at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, yelling and jumping in excitement and lifting freshman Isaiah Thomas above their heads. “It’s just a great story that we’re living out right now,” junior Quincy Pondexter told The Daily. The Huskies’ three leading scorers in Brockman, Thomas, and senior Justin Dentmon, shot only 9-for-28 from the field on the night. Pondexter played despite concerns about bruised ribs and scored 16 points, 10 of which came before halftime, and Brockman grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds. Against all odds, the Huskies still came out on top and walked away conference champions. After going into the break up 35-20, the UW never trailed in the second half. The Huskies held WSU to 20-of-54 shooting from the floor and the Cougars made just 4-of-13 from 3-point range. When the clock showed only 4:22 left in the game, the Cougars got within two points, but after back-to-back baskets from Pondexter, they never got closer than four. With the last conference championship for the UW coming in 1953, the win had been a long time coming for coaches, players, and fans. In Romar’s seventh year as head coach of the Huskies, they finished the season 26-9, 14-4 in Pac-10 and, with the regular season conference title, also secured an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. After earning a No. 4 seed, they defeated Mississippi State in the first round before falling to Purdue in the second. “It’s special,” Romar told The Seattle Times in regards to the Huskies’ first regular-season conference title since 1953. “Hopefully it doesn’t take another 50 years.” Reach Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Altena at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena

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