University of Washington
Seattle Pacific
Huskies Pull Away from SPU in Exhibition Victory
November 05, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2007
SEATTLE (AP) - Jon Brockman demonstrated the value of veteran presence as his second-half scoring spurt helped Washington avert an upset to Division II Seattle Pacific in a 86-77 opening exhibition victory Monday.
Brockman, the Huskies' 6-foot-7 junior forward, was restricted by foul trouble for much of the game. But he came off the bench late in the second half to score 10 points in a five-minute span to give push the Huskies into a lead they won't relinquish.
"It's one of the worst feelings in the world because you feel like an idiot for making some stupid fouls and you just can't help your team when you need to be out there,'' said Brockman, who sat with four fouls for nearly 12 minutes in the second half.
He entered the game with 7:47 left and the Falcons leading 66-65. He then scored 10 of his team's next 14 points to give the Huskies a 79-72 lead with 2:52 left.
Brockman finished with 18 points. Freshman Venoy Overton, a 6-foot guard who the state Class 4A player of the year, had 16 points.
SPU was led by sophomore forward Rob Diederichs with 36 points on 15-of-23 shooting. It was the most points in any game against the Huskies since Gonzaga's Adam Morrison had 43 on Dec. 4, 2005.
"Rob was phenomenal, but we got to play a lot better defense,'' Brockman said.
Washington, looking much like a team trying to mix in seven players who did not play for the Huskies last season, struggled to find consistency against their Seattle small-school neighbor. They built double-digit leads twice in the first half but the Falcons rallied back each time. The Huskies led just 39-34 at intermission and the Falcons filled that gap 90 seconds into the second half.
"We came into this game wanting to cut down on our turnovers. We didn't do a very good job of that (22),'' UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We wanted to come out and defend. We didn't do a very good job, obviously, on Diederichs. That's a lot of points to give up to one guy.
"But thank goodness for exhibition games, where you get to go out and see where you are.''
Romar still may not be sure. He has two players who missed last season with injuries, one transfer and four incoming freshman to mix in. His preparation for the season also is compounded with the loss of senior point guard Ryan Appleby, who will miss six weeks with a fractured right thumb.
"I hope it was the case tonight that we were so anxious to play, so anxious to do a good job that a lot of our guys wanted to do it themselves,'' Romar added. "We didn't share the ball like we needed to share the ball. We were impatient. We wanted to make the home run play too fast, too early. That hurt us.
"Our best basketball tonight was when we shared the ball and went inside to Jon Brockman. That's part of learning what we need to do to be successful.''
Washington now has a 41-11 record in exhibition games. The Huskies have won all 11 meetings against SPU.
The Huskies, 19-13 last season, open the season Nov. 13, hosting the NIT Season Tip-Off West Regional. They will play New Jersey Tech. The winner will play the winner of the High Point-Utah game earlier in the evening.
The Falcons, 18-10 last season to share the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title, open the regular season at home Nov. 16 against Cal State San Bernardino.
