Huskies Overcome Another Slow Start, Do Just Enough to Win

The UW tops UMass Lowell by 5, a team Gonzaga dismantled by 59

Great Osobor slips inside UMass Lowell defenders for two of his 8 first-half points for the UW on Sunday. / UW Athletics

If the University of Washington basketball team was a sprinter, it still hasn't figured how to get out of the blocks without stumbling, but the Huskies continue to find ways to get to the finish line.

On Sunday night before another sparse crowd at Alaska Airlines Arena, Danny Sprinkle's guys fell behind by nine points early on to supposedly overmatched UMass Lowell before using a 12-0 run to right things and then hang on for a 74-69 win.

The UW (3-1) once more relied primarily on 6-foot-8 power forward Great Osobor, who played without sore-kneed 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang for the second consecutive outing, but he had his way with the visiting River Hawks (2-2). The Utah State transfer topped everyone in scoring with 23 points and rebounding with 18, though he wasn't pinpoint shooting from the floor, hitting 8 of 21 shots, or the free-throw line, dropping 7 of 12.

UMass Lowell, which was badly embarrassed by Gonzaga to the tune of 113-54 on Friday night, came out much more competitive in Montlake.

The River Hawks held a 13-4 advantage by the 13:38 mark of the opening half, looking a lot like Seattle Pacific, which in the previous game led the Huskies by 13 points before reality set in and the crosstown opponent was dealt a 77-62 defeat.

Looking for a spark, Coach Danny Sprinkle inserted freshman guard Zoom Diallo and sophomore forward and Portland State transfer Tyler Harris and they combined for eight points in a 12-0 run over four minutes and the UW led 16-13.

By halftime, it was 32-27, Huskies. Diallo had 9 points and Osobor and Harris 8 each. The UW collectively shot just 13-for-37 from the floor (35.1 percent), and went 0-for-7 from 3-point range to that point.

North Dakota transfer Tyree Ihenacho, Diallo and Harris each finished with finished with 12 points for the UW, while Luis Kortright, the Rhode Island transfer, gave the Huskies a fifth double-figure scorer with 10.

The difference between UMass Lowell and SPU was the East Coast team hung around until the end.

The teams were last tied at 55 when Ihenacho hit a 3-pointer to put the home team on top for good with 7:58 to play.

From there, the UW gradually put some space between it and the other guys, leading by as many as 69-60 when Kortright tipped one in.

Yet unlike Gonzaga, which took a 59-point victory over the River Hawks, the Huskies settled for its modest 5-point decision. So does that mean the Zags are 54 points better than the UW? No wonder Sprinkle pulled the plug on that cross-state rivalry for now.

The Huskies will take much of the week off before hosting winless Alcorn State (0-4) on Friday night at Alaska Airlines Arena at 7 p.m. in another that won't fill many seats The Mississippi team recently lost by 55 points to Osobor and Sprinkle's old Utah State team and by 31 to Utah.

Maybe this one will provide the fast start the UW has been desperately seeking.

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