UW Huskies start fast, hold off late Stanford surge for second consecutive Pac-12 win

The Washington Huskies started fast Saturday afternoon at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

And it ended up being just enough to wrap up their weekend with a 67-64 win over visiting Stanford.

After the Cardinal grabbed a quick five-point advantage in the game’s opening moments, the Huskies responded with a sequence during the next seven minutes in which they scored on nearly every possession, going on a quick 22-4 run to secure a lead they never lost.

Jamal Bey delivered what turned out to be the game’s decisive basket with 17:24 left in the opening half on the first of his four 3-pointers.

The Huskies (8-7, 3-2 Pac-12) continued to build from there, their lead reaching as many as 22 points in the first half, and they posted their best and most complete opening 20 minutes of the season.

Then, when Stanford surged late, they did enough to keep that lead out of reach, crossing the midway point of their regular season schedule by closing out their second consecutive Pac-12 win, and third in the past four contests.

“We’re starting to believe in each other, everybody is, and we’re working hard,” Bey said. “We’re not letting any days go by where we’re not working, and I think that’s what’s translating to these wins.”

The victory completed the program’s sweep of California — they rallied for a victory over the Golden Bears here Wednesday night — and Stanford in its first two conference home games of the season.

“We know and our players know how good we can become, and we’ve shown flashes,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said. “But, we’re looking at this thing as one game at a time.”

Terrell Brown Jr. — who continues to lead the conference in scoring average — put UW on the board with the first of the Huskies’ 10 3-pointers less than two minutes in to Saturday’s win, and they spent the rest of the half building toward what was eventually a 43-25 advantage at the break.

The Huskies limited Stanford to 7-of-22 shooting (31.8 percent) in the first half, forced 13 turnovers, and tallied five steals and four blocks.

“We’ve been making that our staple lately,” Bey said of the Huskies’ disruptive defense. “Just, no matter what’s going on, shots not falling, we’re playing defense no matter what, and trying to just turn people over, and that helps us a lot.”

Which, against the Cardinal, turned into early offensive production on the Huskies’ end. UW shot 15-of-32 (46.9) in the first half, 7-of-15 (46.7) from 3-point range and 6-of-7 (85.7) from the free throw line, scoring 19 points off turnovers and 14 off fast breaks.

“We hadn’t had a great shooting performance in this place yet, and I thought in the first half we shared it, we were locked and loaded, and it started with our defense, and so all of those are incredible energy plays,” Hopkins said.

Bey, Brown, Emmitt Matthews Jr., Cole Bajema, Nate Roberts and Daejon Davis all scored as part of that scorching first half that gave the Huskies a double-digit lead they carried until less than nine minutes remained in the game.

That’s when Stanford made its run, using an 8-0 stretch to cut the Huskies’ lead to 59-51 with 8:53 left on a Brandon Angel 3-pointer.

Davis, matching up against a Stanford program he played with the past four seasons, calmly knocked down a long 3-pointer on UW’s next trip down the floor to end that threat, but the Cardinal continued to close in.

Lukas Kisunas cut the lead to six on a short jumper with 4:44 left, then threw down a dunk at the 3:06 mark to make it 63-59.

After Brown sunk a pair of free throws, Angel added another dunk for Stanford to trim the lead to four points again at the 1:18 mark, and Kisunas made it 65-63 on two free throws with 43.3 seconds left.

The Huskies’ dwindling lead didn’t finally feel safe until less than two seconds remained. Brown in-bounded the ball to Bajema, who then connected on the first of two free throws with 0.4 seconds to go to create the final three-point margin.

“Stanford’s a good team,” Hopkins said. “We knew they were going to come out and make a run. We didn’t know they were making that type of a run. But, they did and they cut it, and kudos to them. And then kudos to our guys to be able to finish the game — however you’ve got to do it. If it’s in the mud, in the dirt — whatever it is — you’ve just got to find a way to win, and we did.”

UW finished 21-of-59 (35.6) shooting from the floor, 10-of-28 (35.7) from 3-point range and 15-of-22 (68.2) from the free throw line, while forcing 21 turnovers on defense.

Brown led all scorers with 25 points and added four assists and four steals, Bey finished with a season-high 17 points and three steals and Matthews chipped in 11 points and four rebounds.

Angel led Stanford with 13 points, while Kisunas had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Huskies now prepare for another road trip to visit the Oregon schools next week.