Quincy Pondexter, Matthew Bryan-Amaning come up big in Huskies' victory over Belmont

Jon Brockman who?

For a night, the Washington men's basketball team made its fans forget about Brockman, the school's all-time rebounding leader and No. 2 scorer.

After a poor performance in the post the night before, UW's big men Quincy Pondexter and Matthew Bryan-Amaning punished and pounded the Belmont Bruins beneath the basket to lead the 14th-ranked Huskies to a runaway 96-78 victory Saturday on the second day of the Athletes in Action Classic at Edmundson Pavilion.

Pondexter and Bryan-Amaning needed big nights to quiet detractors who worried how the Huskies were going to replace the rugged Brockman, a four-year starter taken in the second round of the NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings this summer.

"We talked quite bit about giving us something in the middle," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "Giving us a presence down there."

Message received.

Pondexter, Washington's only senior, responded with 25 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 11 rebounds, which were both game highs.

And Bryan-Amaning, who had three points and three rebounds in the opener, bounced back with career-high tying 23 points and seven rebounds. He sank 11 of 14 shots and blocked five shots.

Isaiah Thomas added 23 points. But his scoring was nothing out of the ordinary for Washington's super sophomore who had 30 in the season-opening victory against Wright State on Friday.

"It was a new day today and somebody else's day to do a little bit of work and Quincy and Matt did a great job of coming in, getting on the boards and scoring points," Thomas said. "Tomorrow might be somebody else's day."

Early on, Bryan-Amaning dominated inside and scored on a pair of dunks to help UW to an 8-4 lead.

"With Matt you can just tell if he's not rushing, he's in a rhythm, when he's feeling confident, you can just see it in his body language that things are going to work out," Romar said. "And you can see it in his body language that things are not going to work out a lot of times."

On this night, the Huskies got the good Bryan-Amaning. And they got the Pondexter who avoided the perimeter and worked primarily in the post.

"When you get the ball from your great guards and teammates so close to the basket it makes the game so much easier," Pondexter said. "They did a great job of finding me today and they made the game so much easier for me."

The Huskies put the game away when they extended their advantage to 82-59 with 7:08 left.

Scott Saunders scored a team high 18 points for Belmont.

"We're making progress," Romar said.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

BELMONT 78
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Belcher	26	5-10	0-0	0-4	1	1	12
Hedgepeth	20	4-6	2-2	0-0	1	5	10
Hanlen	25	2-8	0-1	0-2	6	0	5
Clark	30	5-8	2-2	0-1	2	1	14
Campbell	23	2-4	0-1	0-0	3	4	6
House	20	2-3	2-3	0-1	1	1	6
Johnson	14	0-3	4-6	0-1	1	5	4
Saunders	20	7-10	4-5	0-5	1	4	18
Barnes	2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Noack	12	0-0	1-2	0-3	0	0	1
Baker	8	0-0	2-2	1-1	0	2	2
	200	27-53	17-24	5-24	16	23	78

Percentages: FG .509, FT .708. Three-point goals: 7-18, .389 (Clark 2-3, Campbell 2-4, Belcher 2-6, Hanlen 1-5). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 4 (Belcher 2, Hedgepeth, House). Turnovers: 15 (Clark 5, Belcher 4, House 2, Noack, Campbell, Johnson, Saunders). Steals: 4 (Belcher, Johnson, Clark, Hanlen). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON 96
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Bryan-Amaning	24	11-14	1-2	1-7	0	2	23
Gant	12	0-4	2-2	1-1	1	1	2
Overton	26	0-5	2-4	1-3	3	3	2
Thomas	27	6-9	7-7	2-7	3	0	23
Pondexter	29	7-12	11-11	6-11	3	2	25
Gaddy	26	3-9	1-2	3-3	2	2	8
Trent	8	0-2	0-0	2-4	1	2	0
Suggs	15	1-5	0-0	1-5	1	2	3
Holiday	12	2-8	0-0	1-1	1	0	4
Turner	10	1-3	0-0	1-1	2	1	3
Breshers	9	1-4	1-1	2-4	0	5	3
Sherrer	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
	200	32-75	25-29	22-48	17	20	96

Percentages: FG .427, FT .862. Three-point goals: 7-17, .412 (Thomas 4-5, Suggs 1-2, Turner 1-2, Gaddy 1-3, Trent 0-1, Overton 0-1, Holiday 0-3). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 5 (Bryan-Amaning 5). Turnovers: 10 (Thomas 3, Breshers 2, Trent 2, Gaddy, Bryan-Amaning, Suggs). Steals: 6 (Thomas 2, Gaddy, Turner, Bryan-Amaning, Suggs). Technical fouls: None.

Belmont	39	39	—	78
Washington	49	47	—	96

Attendance: 8,410. Officials: James Giron, Gregory Nixon, Frank Harvey III.