University of Washington
Portland
Huskies Cruise Over Pilots, 89-54
December 19, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2009
Final Stats |
Quotes |
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Post-Game Press Conference (pd. Subscription required)
• Thomas, Pondexter and Romar
SEATTLE (AP) -Quincy Pondexter scored 17 points, Isaiah Thomas had 16 and No. 24 Washington pressured Portland into 22 turnovers during an 89-54 rout on Saturday night.
The Huskies (7-3) bounced back from a 74-66 loss to No. 11 Georgetown last Saturday at the John R. Wooden Classic, with leading scorers Pondexter and Thomas giving the Huskies a formidable one-two punch. Pondexter scored inside while Thomas drained two 3-pointers to open up a 16-2 lead over the first 6 minutes.
Elston Turner connected for a 3-pointer from the left wing, and Turner hustled back on defense and picked off a lazy Portland pass that led to a fastbreak with Venoy Overton finishing in traffic and picking up a foul.
Following a missed 3-pointer by Portland, Pondexter took a pass from Thomas on the right wing, moved past a flailing Taishi Ito and fed the ball to Matthew Bryan-Amaning for a reverse layup to extend the lead to 38-13.
Scott Suggs had a career-high 13 points for the Huskies, forced Portland (6-4) into 12 first-half turnovers and converted them into 26 points in building a 47-17 halftime cushion.
Nik Raivio and Luke Sikma tried to lead the Pilots back in the second half, leading a 10-2 run to get within 59-38. The Huskies answered moments later with a 14-0 run culminating in a rim-rattling alley-oop dunk from Thomas to Pondexter with just over 7 minutes left.
The Huskies traveled to Portland to open last season and lost 80-74. Portland returned all of its starters from that squad, but looked overmatched - Raivio doing the only damage on offense with 13 points for the Pilots.
Washington finished with 35 points off Portland turnovers.
