Huskies Can't Keep Up with the Joneses, Fall Flat at Stanford

The UW settles for a split on its Bay Area trip.

At Stanford, it was Senior Day, the final home game of the regular season, a time to honor departing players.

As far as the University of Washington basketball team was concerned, it couldn't say goodbye to Spencer Jones fast enough.

On Sunday afternoon in Palo Alto, the smooth-shooting 6-foot-7 senior forward from Roseland, Kansas, bid farewell to Maples Pavilion by scoring 16 of his game-high-tying 21 points in the opening half and leading his team to a decisive 81-69 victory over the Huskies.

The Cardinal (12-17 overall, 6-12 Pac-12) never trailed, rushed to an 8-0 advantage and built leads as large as 12 over the first 20 minutes as Jones calmly moved around the perimeter and dropped in his 16 first-half points, three more than his game average.

For the Huskies (16-14, 8-11), they've typically been a break-even team all season and that pattern didn't change at all as they couldn't match the energy of their Palo Alto hosts. 

They went home with a Bay Area split after opening with a 65-56 win over California on Thursday and a season split with Stanford, after beating the Cardinal 86-69 in Seattle in January.

The Huskies, who had their three-game winning streak end, were led in scoring by Jamal Bey's season-high 21 points and Keion Brooks' 17.

Jones connected on three shots before the game was five minutes old, two coming from 3-point range to give Stanford a 13-4 lead.

Spencer Jones had 16 first-half points to put the Huskies away :: D. Cameron Ross/USA TODAY Sports

Shaking off the Sunday blahs, Huskies settled in, made a run and pulled within 27-24 when reserve forward Langston Wilson hauled in a lob pass from freshman guard Keyon Menifield and dunked one through.

However, Brandon Angel and Jones combined for Stanford's final 11 points of the half, answered only by Brooks' pair of free throws, and the Cardinal was in command 38-26 at halftime. 

Jones provided 6 of those points in the late flurry by getting fouled as he scored on a driving lay-in and converted the ensuing free throw, and next sank a corner 3-pointer.

The UW's Jamal Bey and Cole Bajema surround Stanford's Harrison Ingram inside.  :: D. Cameron Ross/USA TODAY Sports

At the break, the Kansan had hit 5 of 8 shots, including 3 of 6 from behind the line, and had 4 rebounds and a pair of steals. 

In the second half, the Huskies pulled within 44-39 but got no closer as Stanford outscored them 13-2. Jones supplied a 3-pointer to help this binge along.

If this Jones wasn't enough to deal with, the UW also had to contend with Michael Jones, a 6-foot-5 senior guard from Woodbury, Minnesota, who chipped in 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range and he likewise said good bye to his home court in a positive manner.

The Huskies close out the regular season with a Thursday night game against Washington State (15-15, 10-9) at home.

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