The Seattle University men’s basketball played with the University of Washington throughout most of Tuesday night’s game, but the Huskies made a couple of key runs to earn the 79-68 victory over the Redhawks in a non-conference game at Alaska Airlines Arena.
After Dejounte Murray opened the scoring with a three-pointer a minute into the game, Seattle U scored seven unanswered points, five in a row by Jadon Cohee (Langley, B.C.). After Manroop Clair (Vancouver, B.C.) hit a three-pointer to increase the Redhawk lead to seven, Andrew Andrews scored eight straight points and assisted on a dunk by Malik Dime to put the Huskies into the lead, 15-12.
The teams exchanged 6-2 scoring runs, with William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) scoring four points during the Redhawk run. Washington closed the first half with an 11-3 scoring run over the final two-and-a-half minutes, capped by a three-pointer from David Crisp, to take a 46-37 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The two teams traded baskets for the first eight minutes of the second half before Seattle U made a run, as a three-pointer by Clair and a tip-in by Aaron Menzies (Manchester, England) closed the Redhawk deficit to four at 59-55. That would be as close as the Redhawks would get, as Crisp hit a three-pointer, and Noah Dickerson later hit a jumper to give Washington a 69-59 advantage.
A layup by Emmanuel Chibuogwu (Seattle, Wash.) and a dunk by Powell closed the gap back to six with five minutes remaining in regulation, but Washington would go on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to seal the victory. Dime and Andrews led the run with four points apiece as the Huskies took advantage of three Redhawk turnovers during that stretch.
“We have to credit them for taking advantage of our turnovers. We played hard, but there were some 50-50 balls that we usually get that we did not earn tonight,” Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. “We had some opportunities to close the gap even further than we already did. In order to be successful in someone else’s environment, you cannot keep talking about effort and execution.”
Cohee led a balanced Seattle U offensive attack with 13 points, with Powell finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Brendan Westendorf (Auburn, Wash.) earned 12 points and five assists, Clair contributed 12 points on four three-pointers, and Menzies added 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocked shots.
Washington (8-3) was led by Andrews with 18 points and eight assists, while Marquese Chriss finished with 16 points, five rebounds, two blocked shots, and two steals. For the game, the Huskies shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) from the field, including 7-of-27 from behind the three-point line, and 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the free throw line.
The Redhawks finished the night at 50 percent field goal shooting (28-of-56), including 7-of-11 from behind the three-point line. However, Seattle U missed eight free throw attempts, was outrebounded 34-32, and committed 17 turnovers that led to 16 Husky points.
Seattle University (5-7) takes a few days off for Christmas before returning to action Monday, Dec. 28, against the UC Davis Aggies starting at 7 p.m. at KeyArena. The game will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network (www.wacsports.com/live), and it will be broadcast live on 770 AM KTTH with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill Jr.