Final
Johnson leads Arizona past Washington
Feb 1, 2013 - 7:09 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Nick Johnson made three key free throws down the stretch to lift the eighth-ranked Arizona Wildcats over the Washington Huskies, 57-53, on Thursday.Johnson ended with 15 points, six rebounds and four steals for the Wildcats (18-2, 6-2 Pac-12), who are off to an 18-2 start for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
Kaleb Tarczewski, Mark Lyons and Solomon Hill had 10 points apiece for Arizona, which had lost five straight games at Washington.
Scott Suggs and C.J. Wilcox each tallied 11 points for the Huskies (12-9, 4-4), who have lost four straight for the first time since 2008. Aziz N'Diaye and Abdul Gaddy added 10 points apiece.
Trailing by five, 44-39, with 8:10 to play, Washington went on a 9-2 run to take the lead. Suggs tallied four points during the spurt that Wilcox capped with a 3-pointer to make it 48-46.
Lyons' jumper and Hill's layup around a Gaddy turnover gave Arizona a 50-48 edge with 3:25 left.
Washington's poor performance from the charity stripe down the stretch proved to be costly. Wilcox was fouled on a shot from beyond the arc on the ensuing Washington possession, but went 2-of-3 from the line.
After Lyons missed a 3-pointer, Shawn Kemp Jr. went 1-of-2 from the line to give the Huskies a 51-50 lead with 2:31 to go.
Johnson grabbed a big offensive rebound following Gaddy's block of Lyons. He made a jumper to give the Wildcats a 52-51 lead.
N'Diaye kept Washington's ensuing possession alive with an offensive rebound off Wilcox's missed jumper. N'Diaye was fouled and missed both foul shots.
"I've been working on compressing my shot on the line; to be honest I don't know why I'm not making them," N'Diaye said.
The misses led to Hill's jumper and a 54-51 Arizona lead with 1:18 remaining.
Following a jumper by Suggs, Johnson went 1-of-2 from the line to make it 55-53. Gaddy then turned the ball over on an alley-oop pass. Johnson followed with a pair of foul shots to give the Wildcats a 57-53 margin with 26.8 seconds left.
On Washington's final possession of the game, Wilcox missed two short jumpers and N'Diaye was off the mark from beyond the arc.
The Huskies started the game on a 16-5 run, but the Wildcats responded with a 16-4 surge. Tarczewski tallied seven points during the burst that Johnson capped with a jumper to make it 21-20 with 4:35 to go.
Washington fired back with an 8-2 spurt to end the half. Wilcox bookended the flurry with a pair of jumpers to give the home team a 28-23 margin at the break.
Trailing by four, 35-31, with 14:25 to play, Arizona went on a 13-4 run to take a 44-39 lead.
"Coach (Sean Miller) challenged us at halftime to go out there, play together and play hard, and that's what we did," Johnson said. "It wasn't pretty at all, but we battled again and pulled it out."
Game Notes
Arizona owns a 45-28 lead in the all-time series with Washington ... Each team turned the ball over 17 times ... The game featured 10 lead changes and five ties.
- ARIZONA: 57
WASHINGTON: 53
Final
Jan 31 11:11 PM - 232
roots - 223
roots - 75
roots - 169
roots - ARIZONA: 23
WASHINGTON: 28
Halftime
Jan 31 9:53 PM - ARIZONA: 0
WASHINGTON: 0
1st Half - 20:00
Jan 31 9:07 PM
Related News
- Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Resume Rankings Dec 25
- Arizona men’s basketball remains at No. 4 in AP Top 25 rankings Dec 25
- Despite losses, nonconference schedule proved Arizona men’s basketball has what it takes Dec 25
- 5-star PG Zoom Diallo commits to Washington over Arizona Dec 23
- What Tommy Lloyd said after Arizona's double-overtime loss to FAU Dec 23
- Arizona men’s basketball falls in double overtime to No. 14 Florida Atlantic, first loss in Las Vegas under Tommy Lloyd Dec 23
- Arizona men’s basketball vs. Florida Atlantic game thread Dec 23
- Arizona men’s basketball vs. Florida Atlantic: Game time, TV schedule, odds, streaming and more Dec 23
- Florida Atlantic men’s basketball expert previews the Arizona game, makes a score prediction Dec 22
- UW Pulls Away Late for 73-66 Win Over EWU Dec 21
- Eastern Washington Game Preview & How to Watch Dec 21
- What Tommy Lloyd, Oumar Ballo and Pelle Larsson said after Arizona’s win over Alabama Dec 21