Huskies Get Lucky and Good in Vegas, Beat Xavier

The UW overcomes seven-point halftime deficit to earn satisfying win.

It was one of those Vegas hard luck-turned-jackpot stories that doesn't happen to everyone.

After drawing plenty of losing hands on Friday night just down the street from the casinos, the University of Washington basketball team somehow bet everything they had on hustle and determination and emerged with a 74-71 win over a talented Xavier team in the Continental Tire Main Event at T-Mobile Arena.

The Huskies missed 13 of their first 14 shots from 3-point range into the second half. 

Keion Brooks, the UW's 24.3-point scorer coming in, misfired on nine of his first 10 shots, with all but one of them coming from two-point range. .

The UW even fell down by as many as nine points, the last time at 37-28 near the end of the opening half, and it probably should have been a lot more.

Yet Mike Hopkins' team (3-1) hung in there, got the Musketeers (2-2) in foul trouble and pulled off a satisfying victory worthy of a veteran team, even if these players are still getting to know each other.

The UW now moves into Sunday's 7 p.m. championship game against San Diego State, a 79-54 winner over St. Mary's in the first game. 

In a sparsely filled T-mobile Arena, the Huskies opened with 6-foot-11 Franck Kepnang in the lineup for the first time this season, their third different starting center. He was by far the best one so far.

Kepnang supplied a physical presence inside that helped put Sean Miller-coached Xavier in early foul trouble and led to the Musketeers having a pair of starters foul out, including leading scorer Demond Claude, who had a 19-point night.  

The big man and one-time Oregon transfer also supplied 8 points, including consecutive baskets coming down the stretch that kept the UW safely in front, plus a career-high 12 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

With the Huskies leading 63-60, Kepnang dunked one through on a pass from Koren Johnson. After Xavier cut the lead to two, Kepnang scored on a follow-up shot for a 67-63 edge with 3:59 remaining.

The Huskies also got some big shots out of Portland transfer Moses Wood. His 3-pointer with 8:17 left to play put the Huskies ahead for good at 58-56 and his two-point jumper under heavy guard with the shot-clock running down with 17.4 seconds remaining in the game provided a 73-69 margin. 

Brooks likewise settled down in the second half and finished with a game-high 20 points on 5-for-17 shooting, which meant he was 4 for 7 over the final 20 minutes. 

Kentucky point guard transfer Sahvir Wheeler kept the Huskies in it early by scoring 12 of his 18 points in the opening half, with the Huskies trailing 37-30 at the break.

After shooting 28 percent in the first half, the UW finished at a more respectable 35.4. Again, Hopkins' team wasn't much of a 3-point shooting team, hitting just 3 of 16. 

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