Huskies Avert Upset with 2nd-Half Comeback to Beat Eastern
The Washington Huskies wrapped up non-conference basketball play on Thursday night needing another second-half comeback, this time against Big Sky opponent Eastern Washington.
The UW avoided an upset by pulling away late in the game for a 73-66 victory over the Eagles at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Former Kentucky standout forward Keion Brooks Jr. led the Huskies (8-3) with 20 points while fellow transfer forward Moses Wood helped out with 17 points, including a crucial 3-pointer.
The 6-foot-8 Wood hit one behind the line to give the Huskies the lead for good at 65-62 with 2:48 left in the game. He added 6 rebounds — 5 of which came in the second half — in 36 minutes of action.
"I threw a high-low pass to Braxton [Meah] and Braxton made a great pass — touch pass to Moses in the corner for a three," Brooks said, describing how the UW pulled away late.
The Huskies had a scare early in the final half when point guard Sahvir Wheeler, the Pac-12 Player of the Week, took a hard foul by EWU forward Casey Jones, who collided with the former Kentucky guard.
After taking a minute to be assessed by UW trainers, Wheeler stayed in the game. The Huskies would need him down the stretch.
With 1:34 left to play, he made a pivotal field goal as the shot clock buzzer sounded to push the lead to six, 69-63.
Even with the win, the Huskies struggled throughout the game to control or even manage consecutive rebounds on both ends of the court.
"It wasn't how we wanted to play," UW coach Mike Hopkins said. "I felt like we could play a lot better. But my hats off to Eastern Washington."
UW senior Braxton Meah started his second game of the season at center with fellow senior Franck Kepnang out with an injury suffered last Sunday in the 100-99 double-overtime victory over Seattle University.
Hopkins said after the game that Kepnang could have played against EWU, but he kept the big man off the court for precautionary measures, to be healthy for the start of Pac-12 play next week.
The 7-foot-1 Meah had mixed results. He turned the ball over five times and did not score, but he pulled down 7 rebounds while playing 16 minutes.
Meah shared time with 6-foot-10 junior forward Wilhelm Breidenbach, who finished with 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting in 22 minutes.
"I think Braxton and Wilhelm did a great job of stepping into that role," Brooks said. "We believe in all three of them. It's sad to see Franck go down for a little bit. But we weren't worried because we know Braxton and Wilhelm can really get it done."
In the opening half, the Huskies hit a cold stretch with under nine minutes left to play and saw a 9-point lead turn into a 5-point deficit.
However, the UW managed to chip the EWU lead down to 40-39 at intermission and then battled for the final 20 minutes to pull out the victory.
Washington hits the road next Friday to open its final Pac-12 hoops season at Colorado on Dec. 29.
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