UW seniors shock UCLA
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Washington forward Thalo Green, detaching himself momentarily to appreciate the big picture, gathered his fellow senior teammates in a huddle before returning to the floor with 3:44 left to play yesterday against 13th-ranked UCLA.
"Look who's out here," he told them. "It's just us."
From that point on, those five Husky seniors - Green, Bryan Brown, Will Perkins, Greg Clark and Michael Johnson - combined for something extraordinary, an improbable 96-94 victory over UCLA before a crowd of 8,611 at Edmundson Pavilion.
Improbable because the Huskies (4-14 Pac-10, 10-20 overall) had lost eight games in a row. They had been getting blown out, losing by more than 15 points a game in Pac-10 play. They haven't looked good in any game, it seemed like, since the Reagan Administration. But sports, if nothing else, is rife with irony.
Those five seniors, so heavily criticized all season for lackluster efforts and shoddy play, combined for a final three minutes they'll remember for three decades:
- Green finished with 21 points, one short of his career high.
- Brown converted an amazing four-point play (three-pointer plus a free throw) with 34.3 seconds left.
- Perkins played outstanding defense late despite four fouls and set up a crucial game-winning screen.
- Clark scored six points down the stretch.
- And Johnson, the irony of ironies, closed out his underachieving college career with a career-high 29 points, including the winning three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left.
"I can't describe how it feels now. We've had such a hard time all year and I haven't had the year I've wanted to have, but to go out this way, it feels so good," said Johnson, who finished with an 8.3-point scoring average in his four years. "It was perfect for the five seniors to end it that way. This was a great win, and no matter how hard this season was, we're always going to remember this win."
So will UCLA Coach Steve Lavin, but for different reasons.
"They did a great job. They made big threes and broke us down with the dribble," said Lavin, who stayed in the locker room until 45 minutes after the game.
There was enough energy used in the final minute to power a small arena. It was 89-89 when Johnson missed an 18-footer, and UCLA grabbed the rebound. Matt Barnes, who finished with 21 points, had his shot blocked by Clark but recovered it to bank in a basket and give the Bruins a 91-89 lead with 52.4 seconds left.
After successive timeouts by each team, Brown, off a kick-out pass by Green, drilled a three-pointer from well beyond the three-point line despite being fouled by Bruin guard Earl Watson.
Brown also knocked down the free throw, which is a minor achievement this season for a team shooting a national-low 57.3 percent coming in. The rare four-point play made it 93-91, UW.
The Bruins (14-4, 21-8) had a fast answer, using just three passes to isolate Billy Knight in the left corner. Knight swished a wide-open three with 21.4 seconds left for a 94-93 UCLA lead.
Clark's driving shot was blocked, but the Huskies got the ball out of bounds with 3.6 seconds left. UCLA called a timeout, and UW Coach Bob Bender charted the winning play. Bender wanted Clark's inbound pass to go to Brown coming down the middle, Perkins underneath or Johnson working off a screen. The first two options were closed.
"Out of all those looks, Will set a great screen, Mike got open and, man, he hit a great shot," Clark said. "Of course the season could have gone better, but it definitely couldn't have finished any better, here at home, with the five seniors, national TV, UCLA. There's no better way to go out."
Said Bender, whose team led for 31 straight minutes until the final-minute seesaw: "As far as our intentions were, it was to run it all the way down to the end with them (five seniors).
"They made senior plays."
UCLA 40 54--94
Washington 47 49--96
UCLA (21-8)--Barnes 9-14 3-6 21, Kapono 8-16 6-6 26, Gadzuric 5-6 1-6 11, Knight 4-11 4-6 16, Watson 2-9 7-8 11, Flowers 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey 0-1 0-1 0, Young 0-1 2-3 2, Cummings 3-4 1-1 7. Totals 31-62 24-37 94.
Washington (10-20)--Perkins 3-8 0-0 6, Clark 4-8 5-9 14, Green 7-13 5-8 21, Johnson 11-23 4-5 29, B.Brown 2-6 1-1 6, Massingale 0-1 1-1 1, Allen 0-3 0-0 0, Leep 1-1 1-2 4, Coffee 1-3 0-0 2, Dixon 5-6 3-6 13. Totals 34-72 20-32 96.
Three-point goals--UCLA 8-18 (Knight 4-7, Kapono 4-8, Young 0-1, Watson 0-2), Washington 8-22 (Johnson 3-8, Green 2-4, Leep 1-1, B.Brown 1-3, Clark 1-3, Allen 0-1, Coffee 0-2). Fouled out--Dixon. Rebounds--UCLA 51 (Gadzuric 12), Washington 34 (Green 9). Assists--UCLA 15 (Watson 6), Washington 26 (B.Brown, Johnson 7). Total fouls--UCLA 27, Washington 24. A--8,611.
Bob Sherwin can be reached at 206-464-8286.