The Washington Huskies played their signature stifling defense and played some heady offense in snapping a nine game losing streak Saturday afternoon at Alaska Airlines Arena
Nahziah Carter scored 16 points, Isaiah Stewart 15 to lead the Huskies in scoring. The Huskies (13-15, 3-12 Pac-12) held the Golden Bears (11-16, 5-9) without a field goal for more than 15 minutes during a stretch spanning halftime to take the victory. Washington forced 17 turnovers, and held Cal to 11 field goals and 24 percent shooting in a game that showed the team’s athletic promise.
The Huskies started the season with a win over No. 1 Baylor and were ranked at one point. But after losing 11 of their last 12 they were stuck in a repetitive cycle of second-half fades and long scoring droughts.
Enter Cal, which had lost four straight before a win at Washington State on Thursday.
The Bears appeared to be pulling away when D.J. Thorpe slammed home a dunk for a 17-11 lead, Cal’s biggest of the game, with 11:33 left in the first half.
From there, things would turn disastrous for the Bears. Washington held Cal without a field goal the rest of the half, outscoring the Bears 32-9 for a 43-26 lead. Cal finished the half by missing 14 of 15 field goals, including 12 straight, and had 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, including five in a span of 4:14 that helped start Washington’s run.
Several Huskies contributed to the dominant finish to the half. McDaniels had eight points over the final 10 minutes. He also blocked a shot into the crowd hat fired his team up and helped set up two consecutive Cal possessions with shot clock violations.
Wright hit 3-of-4 3-point attempts during the stretch and Stewart scored on a grind-it-out play in the paint and Carter dunked home a putback of a Carter miss to give Washington the lead for good, 21-20 with 6 minutes to play.
Marcus Tsohonis hit three straight 3s to start the second half, a one-two-three punch that took the fight out of Cal. The Bears finally ended the long field goal drought when Grant Anticevich hit a short jumper to make it 54-28 with 16:20 left. In all, they went 15:23 between field goals.
The Bears were led by Matt Bradley’s 14. McDaniels finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Washington and Tsohonis scored 11.
UP NEXT
Washington: The Huskies will attempt to split the season series when they host rival Washington State on Friday night.
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