UW forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning has breakout performance

In a few months, senior All-America candidate Jon Brockman will begin a professional basketball career, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the Washington Huskies' starting lineup.

Matthew Bryan-Amaning made significant strides in alleviating fears about the UW's interior game without their senior star in what might be a coming-out party for the unheralded sophomore forward against Texas Southern on Saturday.

With Brockman establishing the physical tone early, Bryan-Amaning finished off the winless Tigers in the second half as the Huskies exploited one of those rare occasions when they have a considerable size advantage in the 88-52 nonconference victory.

Brockman didn't have to work hard, notching his 45th double-double before intermission and finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Bryan-Amaning, however, unveiled a bag full of tricks while scoring a game-high 18 points, six more than his previous best. He converted all eight field goals, grabbed five rebounds and delivered two assists in a 17-minute performance that drew raves from teammates.

"He's in the locker room icing his arm," joked Brockman, who was the first to sit down at the postgame news-conference table. "We did a great job getting the ball to him down low. He was posting up hard, and he made good moves to the basket. And also on the break, he was running the lane."

During a five-minute stretch midway in the second half after the outcome was decided, Bryan-Amaning scored seven straight baskets against the overwhelmed Tigers. He powered in a pair of dunks, sank a soft jumper and converted four layups during the sequence.

When he finished, Washington led 68-40 and Bryan-Amaning erased all doubt that he's nearly fully recovered from a nasty fall in practice a week before the start of the season that forced him to miss the first three games because of a sore left hip, knee and ankle.

"When it actually happened and I landed, I was screaming and I thought I would be done for the season," Bryan-Amaning said. "Today when I had that dunk on the fast break that was the first time I jumped off my left leg, off one foot in practice or any game. It's still sore. I'm about 80-85 percent."

It wasn't a perfect night for Bryan-Amaning, who committed two turnovers. Early in the first half, he raced ahead on a fast break and chose to attempt a no-look behind-the-back pass to Quincy Pondexter (13 points, eight assists) rather than convert a contested layup. After the pass was intercepted, coach Lorenzo Romar benched the 6-9 junior forward and gave terse instructions on the sideline.

The message was simple: calm down.

"What we tell Matthew a lot of times is less is more," Romar said. "When Matthew keeps it simple, he gets a lot done."

The same might be said for the Huskies, who extended their winning streak to three games and improved to 5-3.

Midway in the first half, they determined their defense would carry them to a decisive victory against winless Texas Southern, which fell to 0-8. Playing ballhawking defense, the Huskies jumped into passing lanes and harassed Tigers guards on the perimeter.

Washington created 24 turnovers, which it converted into 25 points. Many of the miscues resulted in fast-break opportunities, including Brockman's steal and two-handed, reverse flush that gave UW an 8-2 early lead.

Minutes later, Bryan-Amaning followed with a steal and monster jam, putting Washington ahead 31-15 with 7:25 remaining before halftime.

"Matthew is probably our most talented inside guy," Romar said. "It's just a matter of Matthew keeping things simple and working hard because he's got all the talent in the world. But it's not a situation where automatically next year Matthew is slotted into [Brockman's] position and he knows that."

TEXAS SOUTHERN 52
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
JJones	23	3-6	0-4	4-4	1	5	6
Boyles	16	2-5	0-0	1-2	0	2	4
Drewy	27	2-6	1-2	2-3	0	2	5
Hall	32	3-10	1-2	1-2	3	2	7
Miller	33	5-10	0-1	1-7	3	4	12
Henderson	11	2-4	1-1	2-2	0	0	5
Ford	9	0-3	0-2	0-0	3	0	0
Burrell	7	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	2
Norwood	27	3-4	1-2	0-1	0	0	9
DJones	15	1-2	0-2	1-4	0	3	2
	200	22-51	4-16	13-27	10	18	52

Percentages: FG .431, FT .250. Three-point goals: 4-9, .444 (Norwood 2-3, Miller 2-5, J.Jones 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (D.Jones). Turnovers: 24 (Miller 9, J.Jones 5, Hall 4, Henderson 3, Drewy 2, Norwood). Steals: 6 (Hall 2, J.Jones, D.Jones, Ford, Burrell). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON 88
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Pondexter	25	5-10	3-3	1-2	8	1	13
Brockman	26	7-8	1-4	3-11	0	1	15
Gant	17	3-5	2-4	3-3	0	4	8
Thomas	24	3-7	2-2	0-0	3	3	10
Dentmon	22	3-7	3-4	0-1	5	1	9
Overton	16	2-3	0-0	0-2	2	3	5
Bryn-Amaning	17	8-8	2-2	1-5	2	2	18
Suggs	7	1-2	0-0	0-2	0	2	3
Wallace	6	2-3	0-0	2-5	0	1	4
Holiday	10	0-0	0-0	0-0	3	2	0
Turner	23	0-2	0-0	1-3	1	1	0
Wolfinger	7	1-4	0-0	0-0	0	2	3
	200	35-59	13-19	12-36	24	23	88

Percentages: FG .593, FT .684. Three-point goals: 5-13, .385 (Thomas 2-4, Overton 1-1, Suggs 1-2, Wolfinger 1-2, Turner 0-2, Dentmon 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (Gant 2, Wolfinger, Bryan-Amaning). Turnovers: 16 (Overton 3, Thomas 3, Dentmon 2, Bryan-Amaning 2, Holiday 2, Brockman, Wolfinger, Turner, Pondexter). Steals: 9 (Dentmon 2, Bryan-Amaning 2, Brockman 2, Overton, Turner, Wallace). Technical fouls: None.

Texas Southern	28	24	—	52
Washington	42	46	—	88

Attendance: 7,241. Officials: Michael Reed, Bobby McRoy, Bill Kennedy.