Washington Pulls Away LateWashington Pulls Away Late
Men's Basketball

Washington Pulls Away Late

SEATTLE- Washington used a strong second half to pull away from Stanford 64-60 on Wednesday night, earning a split of the season series.

Trailing 34-27 at halftime, the Huskies shot 47.6 percent over the final 20 minutes while limiting the Cardinal to 30.8 percent shooting over that stretch.

Stanford (15-8, 6-5 Pac-12), which lost for only the third time in nine games, stretched its lead to five on four occasions in the second half but could not increase the margin.

Washington (14-11, 6-6 Pac-12), which received a team-high 17 points from C.J. Wilcox, remained unbeaten at home in conference play and improved to 12-2 overall.

Dwight Powell scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Chasson Randle added 17 points and Anthony Brown chipped in with 12.

Stanford forced 16 turnovers but was hindered by a 3-16 mark from three-point range and an 11-18 clip from the foul line.

The Cardinal built a pair of seven-point leads in the first half, moving in front 17-10 following a jumper from Brown midway through the first half and then taking a 34-27 advantage into the break.

Stanford led 46-41 midway through the second half after Josh Huestis scored five straight points. However, Washington responded with a 12-7 scoring run to even the game at 53-53.

The contest, which featured 11 ties and eight lead changes, was tied for the final time at 58-58 with just over three minutes remaining after Nigel Williams-Goss converted a three-point play.

A jumper from Desmond Simmons with 2:25 remaining put Washington in front for good at 60-59.

Powell had a chance to give Stanford the lead but missed a 5-footer with 1:10 left. Wilcox was fouled and hit both free throws with 54 seconds left for a three-point lead.

Randle then made just one of two free throws with 49 seconds left, but Wilcox couldn't get a left-handed runner to fall.

Trailing 62-60 with 17 seconds left, Randle drove to the rim but Simmons slid off his man and was set in position to draw the charge.

Stanford concludes its road trip on Saturday, Feb. 15, visiting Washington State at 4 p.m.

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NOTES: Stanford was trying to secure its first season sweep of Washington since 2008 … Dwight Powell scored in double figures for the 20th time this year. He has totaled 10+ points in all 11 Pac-12 games … Chasson Randle racked up a career-high four steals … Stanford finished 11-18 from the foul line. In the first meeting, the Cardinal was 24-34 from the charity stripe with Powell making 11-15 and Randle 10-13 … Josh Huestis tallied two blocks, increasing his career total to 164 as he continues to chase Tim Young’s school record of 167 … Stanford finished with only nine turnovers and has now committed fewer than 10 miscues in seven of its last nine games … For only the second time this year, Stanford lost a game when leading at halftime … C.J. Wilcox became the first opposing player to log all 40 minutes in a regulation game this year.

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Head Coach Johnny Dawkins

“We just weren’t sharp in the second half, it was very disappointing. We missed too many free throws. All things that we talk about doing when we really work on execution. We just didn’t do it. Just very disappointed in how we finished offensively.”

“On the last play, we got what we wanted. Chasson was actually open for the three and he turned it down. That was fine but I though he was going to stop and try to take the pull up after that. He just kept trying to be a little too close. The young man came up and took a charge. Maybe he saw Anthony and decided he wanted to dump it off. He’s been our go-to guy all season long, and in those moments you want him to take those shots. And I thought he had two good looks.”

“I’ve seen Chasson make big shots for us all year. If he had the three he wanted, he knows that there is a green light for him to take the shot. He kept getting closer and he may have thought he could go all the way. The young man stepped in, made a big play and took a charge. It was a huge play by Simmons.”

“Washington changed its lineup in the second half with Anderson and Kemp. They were a little bit bigger out there because of that. They played well and as I said, we just give them credit, defensively they did a good job and I don’t think we executed very well.”

Head Coach Lorenzo Romar

“That was a great basketball game, with the exception of our turnovers. Both teams I thought fought hard and really competed. It was one of those games where I couldn’t have been more proud of our guys. Some guys really stepped up for us. Mike Anderson played the best basketball he has in a while tonight. Desmond didn’t score a lot of points but he was relentless. Those are the plays we expect Desmond to make at the end of that game, taking that charge. Those are the things he does that help you win ball games. I though we persevered and came up with the win against a very good Stanford team, which had been playing exceptional basketball.”

“At the end, we just did not want to give up the three. We thought it would go to Powell, we just didn’t want to give up the three.”

“My answer is home versus road. It’s my only answer. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been better on the road, we still have two on the road but I think it’s pretty clear we’re just a different team this year when we’re at home.”