Huskies hammer Redhawks in foul-ridden win

It didn't matter, even for a moment, that the Huskies were playing without starting-guard Isaiah Thomas, who came down with a stomach illness the night before. It looked like they could have beaten Seattle U last night without any of their starters. Or with four guys - which, after a foul fest in the second half, leaving the Redhawks shorthanded, wouldn't have even put UW at a disadvantage. The Redhawks spotted UW 18 points before making a basket, allowing the Huskies to prove exactly how wide the gap still is between these cross-town rivals in a wild, foul-ridden 123-76 throttling that ruined Seattle head coach Cameron Dollar's homecoming and saw the Redhawks play the final 1:27 with four players. "They pretty much took us out of everything we were trying to do," Dollar said. "Whenever you can't get a shot up, that ain't the kids; that's the coach. You've got to do something to at least give your kids a chance in the beginning. We weren't able to do that." Quincy Pondexter outscored Seattle by himself in the first half, going for 22 points in that frame on 7-of-8 shooting. He finished with 27, compensating for Thomas' absence. The 5-foot-8 guard is expected to practice Thursday and play against Washington State on Saturday. They might as well have just called this one at halftime. The Redhawks, who somehow beat Oregon State by 51 points earlier this year, shot just 5-for-31 from the field in the first half, didn't score until the 14:48 mark and had trouble just bringing the ball up the floor. They turned the ball over 29 times when all was said and done, the entire first half feeling like one big UW run. Even Seattle's NBA prospect, 6-foot-10 center Charles Garcia, seemed frustrated against the Huskies' tight man-to-man pressure. He finished with 20 points, but was just 4-for-14 from the field and never really established himself as a threat. A UW signee who chose Seattle after failing to qualify academically at the UW, Garcia was met with chants of "Read more books" from the Dawg Pack, which also recited the alphabet to him while he shot free throws. The way the Redhawks played was about as comical. Dollar, an assistant under UW head coach Lorenzo Romar for the past 10 years, had no answers on this night against his former boss - other than to foul the Dawgs to death in the second half. For some reason unknown to anyone watching, Seattle U decided to foul the Huskies nearly every time they touched the ball, usually in backcourt. "I don't coach to keep the score close," Dollar said. "I coach to try to win. I told them at halftime, alright, this is the strategy. ... We didn't score enough to make it worthwhile." Venoy Overton, who started in place of Thomas and brought the ball up the floor much of the time, ended up shooting 16-19 from the free-throw line, the Redhawks entering the bonus with 17:13 left, then the double-bonus with 15:40 left in the game. Washington ended up going 46-61 from the line - a school record - which turned the game from simply uninteresting to somewhat annoying. Official Dick Cartmell even called the two head coaches together early in the second half, letting them know that he wasn't about to lose control of the game. "[It was] just to tell us he was going to call every foul," Romar said. "[He told us,] 'I don't care how much you foul; you won't wear me down. We're going to keep calling them.'" Cartmell and his crew kept their promise. Six Redhawks fouled out. Two Huskies fouled out. The teams combined to shoot 102 free throws and were whistled for 78 fouls, 45 of them committed by Seattle U. And when Alex Jones fouled out with 1:27 to go, Seattle ended up playing the rest of the game with four players. "When I saw four guys out there, I was like, man, this made history," Garcia said. "I've never seen that before." Neither had Romar: "Heard about it, but never been in one," the head coach said of the 4-on-5 period. Even the home UW crowd grew weary of the foul fest, offering a chant of "We have homework" during a trip to the free-throw line. "They [Seattle] were trying to prove a point that they weren't going to go out like that," Pondexter said. The foul-line marathon did make UW's box score a little fatter. Elston Turner scored a career-high 20 points, and UW ended up putting six guys in double figures. Overton finished with 20, Abdul Gaddy had 10, Justin Holiday also topped his career high with 16, and Scott Suggs chipped in 12. "I've never experienced that before," Pondexter said. "It was pretty crazy, but that shows coach Dollar's fight. He'll play with one player if he has to." The way this one went, the Redhawks may as well have been. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com

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