March 20, 2010
Saturday: Washington 82, Lobos 64
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
You have to give the Washington Huskies credit first. They were quick, deadly, athletic, determined, focused and simply better than the Lobos Saturday in an NCAA East Regional that leaned heavily toward the Huskies, 82-64.
But you couldn’t help but watch this ticket-game to the Sweet 16 that once again was punched by a Lobo enemy, and not a Lobo, and wonder if it was only the lightning-quick Huskies who wore the Lobos down.
Maybe it also was a long and pressure-packed season — and maybe even the Montana Grizzlies — that helped pull the Lobos down in San Jose, Calif.
The Huskies looked fresh and fast and, really, unstoppable. The Lobos looked determined and gutsy, and a bit beat up. One symbol of this game might have been senior Roman Martinez standing on the floor with a bloodied eye.
Of course, another symbol was Huskies running down the court like an Olympic relay team looking to pass off a baton. They hit the finish line long before the final gun.
And, as is the Lobos’ style, UNM had no excuses for the loss and much credit for the team that ended the Lobos’ magical season at 30-5.
Junior Dairese Gary |
“Tonight, we didn’t have an answer,” said Lobo point guard Dairese Gary, who led all scorers with 25 points. “They kept coming at us. They got out fast. If you don’t get stops, you aren’t going to win and that’s pretty much what happened tonight.”
Said Martinez: “They got out on transition and we had no answer on the offensive end. We couldn’t respond (on either end). Defensively, we didn’t come to play tonight. They were just too much. They were just more physical throughout the game. A lot of credit goes to Washington.”
It definitely wasn’t a happy ending for the UNM team that posted the best record in school history, ran to a Mountain West title, and powered its way to a Top Ten ranking while placing Gary and Darington Hobson on the All-MWC First Team.
Still, it was a special season and special seasons so often end on the road to The Final Four. Just ask No. 1 seed Kansas or No. 2 Villanova, two Top Ten teams that also saw their season’s end Saturday in the whirl of March Madness.
“They are a really good basketball team that’s playing really well,” said Lobo coach Steve Alford of Washington. “They are playing at a high level. They are a deep team and they play extremely fast.”
The quickness of the Huskies was almost a shock because the Lobos are not slow. On occasion, a Lobo basket would end up as a Washington layup on the ensuring in-bounds play. After a Lobo miss, the Huskies often were a four-man blur racing down the court.
The Huskies scored inside. The Huskies scored outside. “They went to the basket hard,” said Gary. “They (created) easier shots than us.”
Alford put it another way, an accurate way: “We ran into a combination of San Diego State and BYU wrapped together. That’s tough to stop. This is a Final Four caliber of team. We wish them the best of luck.”
A definite highlight for the Lobos was the play of Gary, who so many times placed the Lobos upon his broad shoulders and didn’t flinch with the weight. Fatigue seemed to hit Gary toward the end of this game. The Huskies really had no answer for his fullback-like charges to the glass.
“He’s got to be one of the best in the country,” Alford said of Gary. “Here on a national level, he proves himself.”
Gary was joined in double figures by Hobson with 11 and Martinez with 10 points. UNM shot 39.4 percent from the floor and 29.4 percent from 3-point range.
Washington got 18 points from Quincy Pondexter, 15 from Isaiah Thomas, and 15 from Matt Bryan-Amaning. The Pac-10 tourney champs shot a blistering 48.5 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from behind the line.
Washington won the board battle 40-38 and only had five turnovers despite running — and passing — at a high level. UNM got 11 boards from its inside combo of A.J. Hardeman and Will Brown.
Hobson, UNM’s leading scorer and rebounder, played with a swollen and sore shooting wrist. He paced UNM with 11 boards.
“I appreciate his efforts tonight in just giving it a shot,” said Alford of Hobson playing with a swollen and sore shooting wrist.
Second Half — Washington 38, Lobos 32
The scent of the Sweet 16 had to be tickling the Huskies’ nostrils as they strolled into the half up by 12 points.
The opening minutes of the second half would be key. Would the lightning-quick Huskies come out looking to walk past the Lobos, or would they continue to hammer away? And had the season bruised the Lobos too much for this spirited team to stage a comeback?
The Huskies came out and continued to put down the hammer. A Thomas trey pushed Washington up 53-36 — 17 points — and Alford called a timeout. But was there any answer to the Huskies’ quickness, especially if they were hitting the long shot?
Washington’s quickness was hurting UNM at both ends. A Washington dunk made it 55-36. A Washington steal led to a Pondexter bucket inside. Washington was up 21 points: 57-36. Alford called another timeout trying to stop the bleeding. A Justin Holiday trey made it 60-38 — 22 points.
Coach Steve Alford |
The Lobos didn’t really have an answer for the Huskies’ quickness, but UNM continued to fight. When the Lobos cut it to 72-54, Washington called a timeout.
The Huskies really weren’t in trouble, but they needed to continue to play defense, rebound, and not get sloppy on the offensive end. The Huskies now needed to move the clock as well as they had moved the scoreboard.
The Huskies actually came out of their huddle and took some of the full-court transition out of their game without losing any quickness. They continued to score and worked the clock.
At 2:28, Washington was up 80-59. A glorious UNM season was nearing a bitter end. Alford had pulled his starters and his five-man bench finished the game.
First Half — Washington 44, Lobos 32
Gary had a classic first half for UNM with 15 points. He owned the paint and the backboard on his power drives. Still, despite his heroics, UNM limped into the half down 12 points to a blazing-quick Washington team.
The Lobos and the Huskies flew up and down the court early with the Lobos cracking the Huskies’ defense with some sharp 3-point shooting and the Huskies beating the Lobos down the court at the other end. At the first media break, UNM was up 11-8.
If anything, the pace got hotter leading into the second media break. Washington’s Thomas came out of the break and hit a wide-open trey over a UNM defense moving out of a zone look into a man.
Hobson came down and punished the Washington interior with a bullet pass to Hardeman inside: 13-11. Gary pushed UNM up 15-11 on a power drive down the left baseline.
Washington then got three buckets inside to go up 17-15. Nate Garth split the lane for a layup: 17-all. Washington did the same at the other end out of transition on an in-bounds pass: 19-17. Garth did a replay for UNM and the score was 19-all.
Pondexter put Washington up 21-19 on a drive down the lane. At 9:14, he hit two free throws to up the Huskies into a 23-19 lead.
Gary threw a big-time spin move on Washington in the paint. The junior finished with his left hand: 23-21. Washington came back and scored out of transition on a Hobson turnover: 25-21. At the 7:54 break, it was still 25-21.
Washington’s Abdul Gaddy threw in an impossible shot on a drive, it dropped, and he added a free throw. Washington was up 28-21. It was the Huskies’ biggest lead of that half — for a few seconds. Thomas threw in a 3-pointer off the right wing and the 10-point lead (31-21) had Alford calling a timeout.
The Lobos came out of their huddle with a familiar strategy: Send Gary to the hole. It worked for a layup: 31-23. Washington came back with a trey: 34-23. Gary hurt Washington inside again with a strong drive and a tough, touch shot off the glass: 34-25. That score was carried into the final media break at 3:58.
The Huskies went up 36-25 on a Pondexter dunk. It was a transition hammer off a Hobson turnover. Gary put the Lobos back on his shoulders again with a drive and another tough shot off the glass. Elston Turner came down and hit a 3-pointer for Washington: 41-27. The Huskies were up by 14.
Gary did it for UNM again. Another drive. Another contested shot that dropped — plus a free throw. It was 41-30 with under two minutes to play. The Lobos came down and fell into a zone. Washington worked the zone for another Turner trey: 44-30.
UNM had the last look at the basket. Washington fell into a 1-3-1 zone trying to take the middle away from Gary and get some help defense, if Gary decided to drive. Gary drove, muscling another shot off the glass. UNM went into the half down 44-32 — 12 points.