Brown scores game-high 30 points, UW Huskies outlast Utah in 2OT

The Washington Huskies needed two overtimes Saturday afternoon, but eventually ended their weekend with a win at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Terrell Brown Jr. — who continues to lead the Pac-12 in scoring and poured in a game-high 30 points — sealed the victory with a free throw with 14 seconds left, giving UW its final four-point advantage.

The Huskies (11-8, 6-3 Pac-12) closed out the 77-73 win from there, sweeping their regular season series against the Utes.

UW has now won five of its past six conference games — including topping both Colorado and Utah this week — with road contests at California and Stanford coming up next week.

“It’s hard to win in this league, especially consistently,” UW forward Nate Roberts said. “So, for us to come back pretty much from back-to-back games, and come out here and fight for two overtimes, and come out with a win was big and huge for our momentum continuing on to next week.”

But, the Huskies needed an additional 10 minutes to secure their second victory over Utah (8-14, 1-11) this season in a game that featured 13 ties and 12 lead changes before it was decided.

Daejon Davis sunk his first field goal of the contest on the Huskies’ first possession of the second overtime period on a 3-pointer, and UW never trailed from there.

The Huskies led by as many as seven points in the final five minutes following another 3-pointer by Cole Bajema and a driving layup by Brown.

Utah answered with a pair of baskets from Branden Carlson and Both Gach, the second of which cut the lead to three points with 17.1 seconds to play, but that was as close as it got.

“We knew how tough they were going to be,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “And we just made some plays down the stretch, but we’ve showed a lot of toughness the last two games.”

UW finished 26-of-59 (44.1 percent) from the floor led by Brown’s 30 points — his third 30-point performance this season — four rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Roberts added a season-high 11 points — all in the first half, when he was 5-of-5 shooting — and pulled down nine rebounds, while Emmitt Matthews Jr. had eight points and 10 boards and Jamal Bey had 10 points.

UW led much of the first half, and Brown gave the Huskies a 34-30 advantage at the break by sinking a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Huskies pushed their lead as high as eight in the second after opening with an early run, but it didn’t take long for the Utes to close in.

Utah eventually grabbed the lead back on a corner 3-pointer by Lazar Stefanovic with 13:10 left that capped an 11-0 run.

The Huskies trailed by a basket entering the final minute of regulation, but Brown coolly evened the score at 59-59 on a pair of free throws with 16.5 seconds left.

Utah had the final possession of regulation, and a chance at the buzzer, but Gach’s contested, off-balance jumper bounced off the rim as time expired.

Utah grabbed a quick lead in the first overtime period, and built it as high as four on four consecutive free throws early on, but the Huskies climbed back, and with 1:41 left took a one-point lead on a free throw from Brown.

Carlson quieted the crowd on the following possession with a 3-pointer, but again Brown brought UW back, scoring on an off-balance jumper near the end of the shot clock with 37 seconds to go to make it 68-68.

Neither team scored again from there, though. It appeared UW would have the final possession of the period after forcing a turnover with 7.7 seconds left, but Gach promptly picked up a steal, and dribbled up the floor, but couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.

Davis’ 3-pointer not long after, which opened scoring in the second overtime, turned out to be the game-winner.

“That’s this group,” Hopkins said. “Leaving everything out there. That’s a great way to define them. They never say die. They never say quit. They just keep fighting. And, got a gritty group out there, when you talk about being tougher together, that’s an example. Down four, two minutes to go, find a way.

“It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but they plays that were made were tough. It felt like everything was against us, and they just kept fighting.”

The eventual result extended Utah’s current drought to 10 games. The Utes’ only conference win is still their victory at home over Cal on Dec. 5.

Carlson led Utah with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Marco Anthony had 13 points and nine boards and Rollie Worster had 10 points. Tacoma’s David Jenkins Jr., in his return to the Pacific Northwest, finished with eight points.

The Huskies head to the Bay Area next week to meet Cal (9-11, 2-7) and Stanford (12-6, 5-3) for the second time this season after sweeping the two schools in their visit to Seattle earlier this month.