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Pondexter leads Washington past Idaho

Nov 30, 2006 - 5:15 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Washington has another freshman other than Spencer Hawes.

Quincy Pondexter scored 17 of his season-high 25 points in the second half as No. 11 Washington pulled away for an 87-66 victory over Idaho.

A 7-foot center from Seattle, Hawes entered his freshman campaign with all the hype. However, it's the 6-6 Pondexter who is leading the team in scoring.

Pondexter enjoyed his best game at the expense of the Vandals, making 6-of-7 shots from the field in the second half to finish at 9-of-14 overall. It was his third 20-point game in six starts.

"It's good so far," Pondexter said. "I really didn't expect this much."

"We envisioned Quincy being a sky's-the-limit guy," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We didn't know how soon he would reach that potential. But I don't even think we've really seen his athleticism yet this year."

Hawes clogged the middle and battled foul trouble to finish with seven points and nine rebounds.

Ryan Appleby added 11 points and sophomore Jon Brockman pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds for Washington (6-0), which held a 38-29 halftime lead before taking control over the final 20 minutes.

Pondexter began to assert himself early in the second half, scoring eight of the Huskies' first 11 points, including draining consecutive 3-pointers. His spinning layup with 15 minutes remaining gave the Huskies a 55-38 cushion.

Washington shot just 39 percent (29-of-75) but held a commanding 50-26 rebounding advantage, including a 23-4 cushion on the offensive glass.

"I'm really proud of the effort we displayed in what we knew coming in was going to be a really tough game," Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. "We felt we really had to answer the bell in the first five minutes and we got after it defensively right from the start.

"We had a really tough time keeping them off the rebounds. Some of that comes from our lack of size, but it also comes from having someone in the right spot blocking out on every shot."

Keoni Watson scored 19 points and Mario Mackey added 15 for the Vandals (1-5), who have lost four of their five games by double digits.

The Vandals hung around in the first half thanks to some poor shooting by the Huskies, who missed 20 of their first 28 shots.

However, the Huskies used a 15-2 surge to close to the half to move in front for good.