Pauley curse continues as Huskies lose buzzer-beater, 62-61

Jan 22, 2010, 12:00 AM

Venoy Overton went coast-to-coast, laying the ball off the glass with 3.2 seconds left, looking for all the world as if he would be the hero on this night. But this is UCLA playing at Pauley Pavilion we're talking about, and the Huskies simply don't win there, even when it looks like they almost assuredly will. So sure enough, the Bruins, trailing by one, inbounded to Mustafa Abdul-Hamid at midcourt, and he promptly drove to the top of the key, pump-faked and launched a jumper at the buzzer. And, well, what do you think happened? He made it, giving the Bruins a 62-61 win and continuing the Huskies' quest for a road win this season. They're now 3-44 all-time against the Bruins at Pauley. It wouldn't have come down to the buzzer if the UW had remembered how to score in the second half. The Huskies took a 41-37 lead into halftime, then managed just 20 points in the second half against UCLA's tough 2-3 zone. Or maybe it was just the Huskies who made it look tough. UCLA is struggling just to stay out of the Pac-10 cellar this season and was playing without 6-foot-10-inch center J'Mison Morgan. It didn't matter, as it rarely does at Pauley. Washington, after hitting 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half, went ice cold in the second, scoring just eight points in the first 15 minutes of the second half. They even went five minutes without a bucket at one point. Still, it looked as if the Huskies were going to escape with a win in the final minutes. Quincy Pondexter, who had a game-high 23 points, made a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:43 left to give the Huskies a 59-56 lead. UCLA center Reeves Nelson made a layup while being fouled with 36 seconds left then missed the free throw, and Washington got the rebound. But Isaiah Thomas missed the front end of a one-and-one with 30 seconds left, and the Bruins' Michael Roll was fouled going to the rim with 7.6 seconds left and made both free throws to put UCLA ahead 60-59. UCLA let the UW inbound without much pressure, and Overton beat his man down the floor before putting a shot off glass and in, appearing to give the Huskies their first road win of the year and their first win at Pauley since 2006. But Abdul-Hamid, a redshirt junior who played 13 minutes and had four points in the game, caught the inbounds pass, made a nice pump fake at the top of the arc and found nothing but the bottom of the net to give UCLA yet another home win over the Huskies. Nelson led the Bruins with 16 points off the bench, finding easy baskets in the first half against the UW's interior. Matthew Bryan-Amaning didn't play in the second half after an uninspired effort in the first, at one point allowing an offensive rebound off a missed UCLA free throw, drawing the ire of head coach Lorenzo Romar and earning him a spot on the bench. Thomas had 11 for the Huskies, who fall to 3-4 in conference play and need to beat USC Saturday to avoid being below .500 in the first half of the Pac-10 season. But the way they've played on the road this year, that seems about as likely as the ending to this game. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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