Washington isn’t afraid of putting in a little overtime.
The Huskies improved to 4-0 in games that extend beyond regulation with a 72-71 victory against visiting Oregon on Wednesday, snapping a four-game losing streak. The Huskies have also defeated Saint Mary’s, Cal and Arizona State in extra time, the first of those in the championship of the Wooden Legacy and the other two in Pacific-12 Conference play.
Washington (14-13 overall, 6-10 Pac-12) will look to continue its winning ways when it plays host to Oregon State (10-17, 4-12) on Saturday in Seattle.
UW freshman Keyon Menifield scored a career-high 27 points against Oregon and senior Jamal Bey made the winning basket, a driving layup with 28 seconds left.
“We’ve been so close the last three, four games and came up a little bit short,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “You’re always trying to tell them to believe. You’re trying to help them improve. We made the plays (Wednesday) that you had to make down the stretch … (against) a team that’s probably the hottest in our league right now, that’s fighting to get into the NCAA Tournament.”
The Beavers felt much the same way after they snapped a three-game skid with a 61-58 victory against visiting Southern California last Saturday.
“I feel like everybody in the locker room is on Coach (Wayne) Tinkle’s plan,” sophomore Glenn Taylor Jr. said after that game. “We’re all out here trying to get to a win. Really creating momentum going into the Pac-12 tournament so we can make a big run there.”
Only the defensive-minded Beavers went on to suffer an 80-62 loss at Washington State on Thursday in Pullman, Wash. The Cougars scored the game’s first 11 points and made their first eight 3-point attempts.
Washington and Oregon State opened conference play against each other Dec. 1 in Corvallis, Ore., with the Beavers coming away with a 66-65 victory as Dexter Akanno made a three-point play with 8 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
