Washington never trailed in the second half against Arizona State, a stark contrast from the early minutes Thursday night.
The Huskies (13-9, 5-6) still needed another five minutes in overtime to hold off the Sun Devils (15-6, 6-4) and earn a 69-66 victory at home.
Senior forward Keion Brooks Jr. led the way with a team-high 22 points, his eight 20-point game this season – twice as many as he had in his three seasons at Kentucky.
UW led by a dozen at halftime, 32-20, after missing the first eight shot attempts to start the game.
“Started off the game, it was 12-0. We didn’t have any energy,” head coach Mike Hopkins said after the game.
“Had a really good day of practice – a good three days. Really excited for this game. Great crowd. And we just came out flat.”
As UW found its footing midway through the first half ASU struggled to find the bottom of the net.
The Sun Devils made just one of their final 12 shots to close the first half.
Coming out of the break both teams traded baskets before ASU started to cut into UW’s lead.
“We knew they would make a run – they did,” Hopkins said.
“Had some good moments, bad moments. At the end we didn’t execute fouling and not fouling. But those are lessons learned. Able to get into overtime and found a way to win.
“Resilient group. Obviously, a lot to clean up. But we were able to beat a good team.”
Senior guard Noah Williams scored seven of his 18 points in overtime to seal the victory, including five from the free throw line.
UW returns to Alaska Airlines Arena Saturday afternoon for the final regular season game of the season against No. 6 Arizona, who defeated Washington State 63-58 in Pullman on Thursday.
