RENO – The road woes continue for the Washington Huskies. But this was different than the loss to St. Louis where they were overwhelmed early and never in it late.
No, this game against Nevada was there to be won. It was there to be won with a minute to go in regulation. It was there to be won with 12 seconds remaining in regulation. It should have been won with 4.8 seconds to play in regulation.
Instead, the Huskies’ inability to close out the Wolf Pack in regulation resulted in a 76-73 overtime loss to Nevada on Friday night at the Lawlor Events Center.
“I can’t even explain it,” UW guard Terrence Ross said. “We were so close to winning it in regulation. We missed assignments and it led to a loss.”
And the problems weren’t just in regulation. In the overtime period, Washington jumped out to an early four-point lead.
But as was the case for most of the game, the Huskies couldn’t contain Deonte Burton in overtime.
Nevada’s sophomore point guard abused Washington’s slew of guards, driving past all of them, scoring on all of them, being stopped by none of them. There were times when C.J. Wilcox and Ross and even Abdul Gaddy contested his shots, but Burton still burned the Huskies.
Burton scored 31 points on 9-for-18 shooting and added six assists and six rebounds. But it was more than the total points. It was when and how he got them.
When Nevada needed a big basket, he hit it. He scored eight of Nevada’s 10 points in overtime and 11 of the Wolf Pack’s final 13.
But none was bigger than his 3-pointer near the end of regulation.
With 10.7 seconds remaining, Washington went up 66-63 on the first of two Darnell Gant free throws. Gant missed the second one, and Dario Hunt flipped the rebound to Burton, who took off for the other end of the court.
UW coach Lorenzo Romar had told his players to foul Burton on his way to the basket. Tony Wroten tried to foul Burton, but it wasn’t called.
Instead, Burton pulled up at the top of the key and buried the game-tying 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining.
“We were supposed to foul and we didn’t really foul like we should have fouled and so he was wide open for a shot,” Romar said.
In overtime, the Huskies jumped out to a 70-66 lead as Ross hit a pair of free throws and scored on a drive.
But Burton wouldn’t be stopped.
He drove the lane and scored on a floater, was fouled and converted the 3-point play. On the next possession he buried a pull-up 3-pointer over Gaddy.
Suddenly, the four-point lead was a 72-70 deficit. Washington would never lead again.
Burton made two free throws and then, after Washington cut it 74-73, he found Kevin Panzer open for a short jumper with 19 seconds remaining in OT.
“He was just on tonight,” Wilcox said of Burton. “He was hitting everything. Every time he shot it, you had to think it was going in because he got going so early. He had a ton of confidence.”
The Huskies had a chance to tie the game, but they never found looks for their two best shooters – Wilcox and Ross. Instead, Gant had a 3-pointer blocked and Gaddy’s desperation shot was short.
“We practice that stuff, but we just didn’t execute in the end,” Wilcox said.
The Huskies were horrendous in the first half, committing more turnovers than made baskets. And yet, somehow they managed to lead at halftime, 29-27, by making four 3-pointers out of their 10 field goals.
Ross and Wilcox combined for 32 points, and during a stretch in the second half, they helped push the lead to 10. But the Huskies went stagnant when Nevada went to a zone defense.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Burton and Malik Story helped cut the deficit.
The Huskies had a season-high 21 turnovers.
“Down the stretch, they hit big shots and did what was necessary to win the game,” Romar said. “We had to close the game out and we didn’t close it out.
“Take away the turnovers, we did a lot of better things than we did at St. Louis (a 77-64 loss on Nov. 20), but it was not enough to come out on top.”
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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