Derrick Williams had 26 points, 13 rebounds and one clutch
block to help the Arizona Wildcats hold off the Men in Black from
Washington, 87-86, during their “white-out” game at McKale Center
today.
Williams blocked a shot from Washington’s Darnell Gant with
just over two seconds left and the Wildcats hung on despite a shaky
second half marred by turnovers.
The win, Arizona’s eighth straight, moved the Wildcats to 23-4
overall and 12-2 in the Pac-10 while Washington dropped to 18-8 and
10-5.
Solomon Hill scored under the basket after Jesse Perry was
blocked with 25 seconds to go, giving UA an 87-86 lead. The Huskies
then called timeout with 17.5 seconds left to set up a final
play.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning was called for traveling with three
seconds left but UA botched an inbounds pass when Hill threw the
ball low and it bounced out of bounds off MoMo Jones’ foot.
Washington then had 2.2 seconds left and the ball to inbound
from the baseline. But Justin Holiday passed to Gant, whose shot
was blocked out of bounds by Williams and a final inbounds attempt
by the Huskies failed to result in a shot attempt.
While Williams led the Wildcats with 26 points and 13 rebounds
while Bryan-Amaning had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the
Huskies.
Arizona led the game for the first 31 minutes but lost command
of the game with seven turnovers over the first five minutes of the
second half. The Huskies went on a 9-0 run to take their first lead
of the game, 70-68, with 8:28 left, and the game remained close the
rest of the way.
Through the second half, Washington guards Isaiah Thomas and
Venoy Overton repeatedly found Bryan-Amaning under the basket
again.
The Huskies took a 72-68 lead on a dunk by Matthew
Bryan-Amaning who now has 20 points.
Through 31 minutes played, Bryan-Amaning had 18 points, nine
rebounds and five blocks.
Earlier in the second half, Washington cut the lead to 54-48
with 14:58, the first media timeout of the second half.
In the first half, the Wildcats hit 8 of 10 three-pointers
while staying on top of Washington.
Arizona led 49-40 at halftiime, getting threes from Kevin
Parrom and Jones in the final 1:04 to hold off the Huskies, who had
crept to within 43-38.
Williams led UA with 11 points and eight rebounds in the half,
and he was one of six Wildcats who hit three-pointers.
C.J. Wilcox had 11 points off the bench to lead Washington in
the half.
The Huskies outshot the Wildcats, 52 percent to 44 percent,
and blocked six UA shots -- four by Bryan-Amaning. But they were
clobbered on the boards. Arizona had 20 rebounds to Washington’s
11.
Only a handful of fans in the capacity crowd at 14,545-seat
McKale Center were not wearing white and athletic director Greg
Byrne said before the game that he jokingly asked a few of those
who weren’t why they had not.
Not only did the fans wear white, but the UA band
cheerleaders, and other spirit squad members worse while.
The Huskies, meanwhile, wore their black uniforms, adding even
more contrast to the event.
The Wildcats took advantage of the extra energy in McKale
Center early by scoring on their first seven possessions to take a
16-6 lead four minutes into the game when Kyle Fogg made a
four-point play, being fouled by Overton on a three-point
shot.
UA failed to score on three straight possessions but
three-pointers by Jordin Mayes and Jamelle Horne put them ahead
25-15 with 11:47 left.
After eight minutes, the Wildcats already had five players hit
three-pointers after Williams connected with 7:43 left to give UA a
30-22 lead.
At the start of the game, Perry led the Wildcats with four
points and an assist, while Jones added a three-pointer while UA
took a 9-2 lead.
The Wildcats wore longsleeve white T-shirts before the game
while warming up.
Please Wait…