UW Men | Huskies get pushed, but rally for win over Beavers

Finally, in a game that featured three technical fouls, one chipped tooth and enough chatter to fill a presidential debate, the Washington Huskies got the last word.

"Yeah, it was a little physical today," said Washington forward Quincy Pondexter after the Huskies rallied to beat Oregon State 83-74 in front of 9,421 at Edmundson Pavilion. "A lot of talking. It wasn't your average game."

It was chippy enough that UW junior forward Jon Brockman — a physical player but one known for his calm head — got the first technical of his career after a brief altercation with Oregon State's C.J. Giles with 1:05 remaining.

Brockman said he was trying to maneuver his legs so that Giles wouldn't fall on him after the Huskies' junior had fallen trying to draw a charge. Giles thought Brockman was kicking him. Brockman thought he might not have been called for a technical had the game not been so heated.

"It got a little messy," he said.

But in the end, Brockman cleaned things up, saving the Huskies from getting egg on their face by losing to the downtrodden Beavers.

The 6-foot-7 Brockman finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, each game highs. He scored nine in the final 4:59 after Oregon State took a 63-58 lead and threatened to wash away all the good feeling the Huskies gained in beating Oregon on Thursday night.

Washington (11-7 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) outscored Oregon State (6-12, 0-6) 25-11 the rest of the way.

"We simply lost our composure," said Oregon State guard Josh Tarver. "They got in our heads, and it got in our way."

Oregon State, trying to end a seven-game win streak as talk mounts of coach Jay John's future, never let Washington get too far ahead.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar had feared such a game.

"Oregon State has been one of those teams where we've had our struggles, and tonight was no different," he said.

In fact, UW players knew they were in for an interesting day when the two teams briefly crossed paths during the pregame shoot-around at 10 a.m. Venoy Overton, the Huskies' freshman guard, said Beavers forward Marcel Jones was talking smack. The chatter continued as the teams warmed up before tipoff.

"They were still talking, and we were just clapping," Overton said. "So we knew it was going to be an intense game."

The Huskies led 36-32 at halftime, but Brockman struggled, missing six of his first seven shots and going 4 of 11 in the first half.

"I think three of them were wide-open layins," Brockman said. "It just seemed like there was a lid there. But I just told the guys at halftime, 'Keep giving me the ball, it's going to start falling.' They did a great job of giving me the ball and they did start falling."

Brockman hit 7 of 8 field goals in the second half, but UW never led by more than three until the final couple of minutes. And when Oregon State went on an 8-0 run, it led by five with less than five minutes left.

"We were tired of getting embarrassed," Tarver said.

Washington regained the lead with a 6-0 run, with Overton diving to steal a ball from Tarver, who fell on Overton and kicked a few times. The two players jawed a little and had to be separated.

A few minutes earlier, UW guard Justin Dentmon lost part of a front tooth when he ran into a Tarver elbow.

Brockman called Overton's steal "the play of the game. That got us going."

Brockman responded with a layup. After OSU cut the lead to 68-67, Brockman's jumper rolled in and he was fouled. He sank the free throw to put UW ahead 71-67 with 1:47 left, and the Huskies finally seemed in control.

Not that the game ever seemed to be.

A little later, Giles and Brockman got tangled, each getting called for technicals along with Tarver, whose missed layin had started it all.

"Two teams playing hard scraping and scrapping," Romar said. "Good ol' hard, aggressive basketball."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.