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Appleby's shooting helps Washington snap slump

Mar 2, 2007 - 8:50 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Ryan Appleby helped Washington shoot down their losing streak.

Appleby scored 22 points as the Huskies snapped a four-game losing streak with an 85-70 victory over No. 24 Southern California in a Pac-10 Conference contest.

Jon Brockman had 17 points and freshman Spencer Hawes added 13 for Washington (17-12, 7-10 Pac-10), which shot 56 percent (10-of-18) on 3-pointers in improving to 6-2 in conference home games.

"Our guys did a really good job and I think that we did some things that we have been doing for some time now, but I don't think that we had the wins to show for it," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "Some guys played good and stepped up offensively. I thought that we were efficient offensively."

Coming off a three-game losing streak that included back-to-back losses at Oregon State and Oregon, the Huskies took control late in the first half behind Appleby.

The sophomore guard scored all 13 of his first-half points and hit four 3-pointers during a span of 4:20, giving Washington a 44-30 advantage with 3:12 remaining.

"I thought we didn't get back defensively for our perimeter players in defensive transition," USC coach Tim Floyd said about Washington's spurt. "We made some real mistakes as far as location, and they made us pay for it."

The Huskies led, 48-37, at the break and extended that cushion to 58-41 on a three-point play by freshman Quincy Pondexter with 17:14 remaining in the second half.

However, Nick Young, the Pac-10's third-ranked scorer at 17.2 points per game, attempted to rally the Trojans, scoring six points in a 10-4 burst that cut the deficit to 69-64 with 6:41 left.

Seeking a third straight win to possibly move into a tie for second place with Washington State, USC (21-9, 11-6) came no closer as Hawes took over down the stretch. The 7-0 footer scored eight straight points for his team, including a dunk with 1:38 left for an 80-69 lead.

"We fought pretty hard there for about 15 minutes in the second half, and we even closed the gap, and it could have been even tighter than that," Floyd said.

Young finished with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting for the Trojans, who absorbed their fourth loss in their last five conference road games.