Senior Shawn Kemp Jr. tied a career high with 18 points and Washington, threatened often but never seriously, defeated the University of Pacific 76-69 Sunday night in the Marv Harshman Classic at KeyArena. Freshman Donaven Dorsey drained a 3-pointer with slightly more than a minute remaining to ensure a 3-0 start by Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies, who led by as many as 14 points in the second half but never could entirely shake the Tigers.
Kemp hit a bank shot at 3:53 remaining for a 66-56 UW lead and the Huskies nursed their advantage until 1:12 left when Dorsey drained his three.
Kemp hit 7 of 11 from the floor and made all four free throws. Guards Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews both scored 17 points.
The Huskies took a 10-1 lead and broke away for a 36-29 lead at halftime with a 15-7 run and held a 51-36 lead with less than 14 minutes to play. Pacific made just one basket in the first six minutes of the second half.
The Tigers reduced Washington’s lead to 66-59 on a fast-break layin by Dulani Robinson at 3:01. Pacific’s Sami Eleraky followed with a tip-in with 1:40 left for a five-point deficit, but the Tigers couldn’t overcome the much taller Huskies.
Kemp contributed four rebounds, one assist and two blocks.
“This is what I wanted to do in my senior year,” said Kemp. “Coming in, I felt like I had a lot of work to do. But this is what I’ve been working for. Hopefully, we can keep doing the same thing. I can’t wait for the next game.”
Williams-Goss had six assists and two steals and Andrews added a team-high seven rebounds and three assists. Mike Anderson had six rebounds.
Dorsey had seven points and four rebounds coming off the bench for the Huskies, who made 43.3 percent of their field goals and 33.3 percent from 3-point range.
Transfer Robert Upshaw, plagued by foul trouble, played only eight minutes. He scored two points and had two rebounds.
T.J. Wallace led Pacific with 24 points, 10 of which came from the free-throw line. Robinson scored 14 points coming off the bench.
The Huskies next play in the Wooden Legacy Classic in Los Angeles. In their first of three games in the tournament, they will take on San Jose State at 8 p.m. Thursday.
1 Comment
Love this Classic to honor coach Marvel Harshman. So far Kemp has shown no sign of being hampered from his diagnosis with Grave’s Disease. It obviously slowed him down last season. Also like that it’s at Key Arena as well, the former armpit of the NBA. Would like to see this tournament grow into something for the teams of the Pacific Northwest to compete in.
Liking what I’ve seen from the Huskies so far. My only concern is bench strength but that could come as the season progresses. The starters seem to have a good rhythm with one another.