Washington knocked off #13 UCLA 86-75 in front of a full house at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The victory propelled the Huskies in the Pac 10 conference lead.
Washington fell behind by as many as nine early in the first half but were able to get back in the game pretty quickly. The Bruins and the Dawgs played pretty evenly during the first half as UCLA led 39-38 at intermission.
UCLA's Josh Shipp was unconscious during the first half hitting three's. He led the Bruins with 25 points and kept the Bruins in the game with his sharp shooting. UW was able to control him better in the second half by putting Justin Holiday on him.
UW built a lead in the second half building after trailing most of the first stanza. Justin Dentmon ran into early foul trouble and Venoy Overton filled in well for him scoring 10 points and supplying good defense. Dentmon was strong from the free throw line hitting 10-10 and finished with 16 points.
Isaiah Thomas continues to improve with every game. He had a great game tonight scoring 24 points. He hit one deep three that just blew everyone away. He also showed some deft passing and defense.
Jon Brockman bounced from a poor offensive performance against USC and scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Quincy Pondexter added 10 points for the Dawgs.
Washington started putting this one away int he last ten minutes. The Huskies led by five with eight minutes remaining and pulled slowly away. The Washington back court was just too quick tonight for the Bruins. Quality minutes from Venoy Overton was big factor in the game.
Up next for Washington in a trip to the desert to play the Arizona schools to finish out the first half of the Pac 10 season.
Game highlights:
One of the big keys to the were free throws. The Huskies hit 36-43 from the free throw line compared to only 10-15 for the Bruins.
The Bruins actually out rebounded the Huskies 32-31.
UCLA was 9-24 from three point land but Josh Shipp was 6-9.