Huskies Finally Find Some Southern Comfort in 2 Overtimes

The University of Washington basketball team had the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year and, for the first time this season, the University of Southern California's leading scorer from last season, on the floor.

It was barely enough to beat Southern.

After falling behind by 12 multiple times, the Huskies got their geographical bearings straight and forced two overtimes to finally put down a hard-nosed SWAC team 99-93 in an extremely physical outing held before a half-full but enthusiastic Alaska Airlines Arena crowd.

The Huskies (4-1) went without 6-foot-10 freshman Hannes Steinbach, probably the one player they can't ill afford to have unavailable this season, plus 6-foot-7 sophomore Bryson Tucker, the Indiana transfer and starting forward who missed his second consecutive game. Sprained ankles, all the way around.

To combat this manpower shortage, Danny Sprinkle's team opened with a four-guard lineup against the Jaguars (2-3), with Quimari Peterson, the Southern Conference POY, starting for the first time.

Quimari Peterson drew his first UW start against Southern. | Dave Sizer phot

And after playing without so many hobbled players in these early season encounters, the UW finally picked up some help.

Desmond Claude, the 6-foot-6 USC transfer and out for nearly a month with his own bothersome ankle sprain, looked sufficiently recovered after he checked in at the 15:02 mark of the first half and started making things happen.

He was the best player on the court, for either team.

He hit a short jumper 14 seconds into the second overtime to put the UW up for good at 88-86 in between leaving the floor area twice because he was cramping badly.

Playing 34 minutes, more than anyone expected, Claude finished with 20 points, two shy of former USC teammate and current Husky running mate Wesley Yates III. Southern's Michael Jacobs took game scoring honors with 24.

"We weren't going to lose that game no matter what," Claude said.

The game was so demanding Peterson, who scored 15 points, played all 50 minutes while 10 players had four fouls or more for the teams combined with four fouling out, two on each side.

"I was just hoping we had five players to finish the game," Sprinkle said.

It took Claude 50 seconds after he entered the game to put up and sink his first shot -- a 3-pointer from the right side, for a 7-6 lead. He hit his second shot, too, a foul-line jumper, that gave the UW a 13-9 advantage. He had a team-best 7 points by halftime. He just kept going after the break, doing what he could.

"I'm little sore, but my ankle is fine," he said.

Yet a not so funny thing happened to the home team once these two sides hit the 10-minute mark of the opening half.

Southern rattled the Huskies, and their newly reinforced lineup, to the tune of a 20-2 run.

They tied the game at 20 and pushed out to their largest lead, 33-21, when forward DaMariee Jones dropped in a jumper with 3:36 remaining in the half.

Even without Steinbach and the others, the Huskies momentarily were in a state of shock against a team that wasn't afraid to belly up and force mistakes. They pulled within 37-29 at the break.

To open the second half, the UW sent a lineup onto the floor without Claude. It took Sprinkle juist 24 seconds to get him back out there.

Lathan Sommerville (24) had this shot altered by Southern's Jayce Depron. | Dave Sizer photo

After Southern went up by 12 again, on a Jacobs jumper to make it 42-30, realization began to sink in that the Huskies, while they have Claude back in the fold, need some big men, namely Steinbach, to get healthy or they're vulnerable.

Down 51-39 with 13:16 left to play, the Huskies began chipping away at the deficit until they tied the game at 57. Now it would be an even more intense battle during the 6:13 that was left on the clock.

Claude gave the UW their first lead since early in the game, when he backed in and hit a little floater, to put his team up 61-60 with 5:05 remaining.

The Huskies even had a 63-60 lead when Wesley Yates III hit a fall-away jumper with 4:42 left.

Yet Southern, a gritty little mid-major team, went ahead when Terrance Dixon Jr. scored on a lay-in to put the Jaguars on top at 64-63 with 3:51 to go.

The teams finished tied at 69 in regulation, with both sides having a late shot attempt for the win.

Yates opened the scoring in overtime with a lay-in, but Southern regained control with Fazl Oshodi's 3-pointer putting his team ahead at 72-71.

Southern went up by five and held onto the lead in the second overtime until 1.9 remained in the extra session when Peterson drove for a left-handed lay-in to tie the game at 86 and put it into another overtime.

With 11. 6 seconds left, Peterson coolly dropped in three free throws to pull the Huskies within 85-84 and gave them a chance.

"We made the plays when they had to be made to keep ourselves in there," Sprinkle said. "We also made a lot of plays to get ourselves out of the game."

Southern, located down the street from LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had to have a good feeling about this one. It arrived in town with a historical Seattle basketball connection. Two of its three players with retired numbers -- the late Bob Love (41) and Avery Johnson (15) -- played for the Sonics.

Yet the Jaguars couldn't pick up a memorable victory and put it in their archives that easily could have gone their way.

The Huskies now have nine days to recover before playing Nevada in the Acrisure Holiday Classic on Thanksgiving Day in Palm Desert, California.

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