Making his first Washington start, Tony Wroten Jr. slowly walked on the Edmundson Pavilion floor with a stoic look on his face, unfazed by the cheers raining down from the Huskies fans.

"I was actually expecting it to be louder," he joked.

Wroten needed just nine games to crack the starting lineup, and after the show he put on against UC Santa Barbara he might never come off the bench again.

Wroten tied a Husky freshman scoring record in tallying 27 points to lead Washington to an 87-80 victory Friday night that extended the team's nonconference home winning streak to 32 games and gave coach Lorenzo Romar his 200th victory at UW.

It was the most points for a freshman since Isaiah Thomas scored 27 points on Dec. 30, 2008, against Morgan State. Washington assistant Paul Fortier also logged 27 points Feb. 12, 1983, against Arizona.

"It doesn't happen too often, it's tough," Fortier said. "First of all, making that adjustment to college is difficult. The defenses are more sophisticated and they're geared up to stop you.

"It takes a special player. And he is."

Wroten was happier about the victory that snapped UW's three-game losing streak than he was about tying the school record.

When asked to grade his performance, he gave himself an average mark.

"I'd give it a seven because I can't make free throws right now," he said softly during a postgame interview. "Once I make free throws, it will come a lot easier.

"At the end of the game, I'm unable to be in the game. I felt like I played good to help my teammates get the win, but I got to start making free throws."

As good as Wroten was — and at times he was sensational — he also hurt the Huskies with late-game miscues and missed free throws in the final minutes. He committed two turnovers that helped the Gauchos turn a rout into a nail-biting finish.

The Huskies (5-4) led 77-67 with 5:26 to go before UCSB (5-3) used a 10-0 run to tie the score at 77 with 3:30 left.

On the ensuing possession, senior forward Darnell Gant was fouled on a putback and made the free throw to give UW an 80-77 lead. The Huskies were ahead 83-77 when Orlando Johnson, who scored a team-high 24 points for the Gauchos, drained a three-pointer with 35.5 seconds left.

Washington connected on all four of its free throws the rest of the way.

Abdul Gaddy finished with 17 points and Terrence Ross chipped in 16 for UW.

As the Huskies salted away the victory, Wroten watched from the sideline because his 4-for-9 free-throw shooting made him a liability.

"I was frustrated at myself, not at coach Romar," Wroten said. "I don't blame him. He can't have me in if I can't make free throws or the other team would have won. I got to stay in the gym and work on my free throws."

Still, Wroten thrilled the crowd of 9,246 with several highlight plays, including fast-break dunks, putback jams and three contorting layups over 7-foot-3 Gauchos center Greg Somogyi.

He also tossed an alley-oop lob pass to Ross who flushed a 180-degree slam.

"He's quite a talent," Romar said. "There's not a whole lot he can't do out there on the floor. You call it summer league if you want, but he did score 70 points in a summer-league game. Everybody can't say they scored 70 points in a summer-league game.

"Only a few."

Wroten also inspired moments of frustration with five turnovers and 11-for-21 shooting from the field.

He also had seven rebounds and two steals.

"I was there when Isaiah scored his 27 and what I can say about both of them is they are two great players," Gant said.

Wroten got the start because center Aziz N'Diaye is out two to three games with a sprained right knee that forced Romar to change the starting lineup for the first time this season.

The Huskies began the game with four guards (Gaddy, Wroten, Ross and C.J. Wilcox) and Gant. The small lineup had difficulty keeping the Gauchos out of the paint and Washington trailed 47-44 at halftime.

"We knew we couldn't just outscore this team and we had to play defense," Gant said. "It came down to getting stops."

Washington outscored UCSB 43-33 in the second half.

"Now we can get on a run," Gaddy said. "I feel like we just needed one win and now we can just keep going. I'm confident we can win the rest of these games from now until the (Pac-12) season."

Washington faces South Dakota State (9-3) of the Summit League on Sunday. It's the second game in a five-game homestand. The Huskies play eight of their next 10 games at home.

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

Box score

UC SANTA BARBARA (5-3)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Serna	23	2-4	2-2	0-3	2	3	6
Peterson	18	2-4	0-0	3-6	0	3	4
Garth	21	3-7	2-2	0-1	0	4	8
Nunnally	32	4-10	0-1	2-5	2	4	10
Johnson	37	8-16	5-9	2-10	2	4	24
Hornbuckle	17	5-9	0-1	1-2	2	2	11
Boswell	17	2-3	0-0	2-2	1	1	5
Taylor	19	1-3	0-0	0-2	3	0	3
Williams	4	1-2	0-0	1-1	0	0	2
Somogyi	12	3-7	1-1	2-6	0	3	7
	200	31-65	10-16	14-40	12	24	80

Percentages: FG .477, FT .625. Three-point goals: 8-18, .444 (Johnson 3-5, Nunnally 2-4, Taylor 1-2, Hornbuckle 1-2, Boswell 1-2, Garth 0-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 7 (Serna 2, Williams 2, Somogyi 2, Nunnally). Turnovers: 17 (Johnson 6, Nunnally 5, Taylor 3, Peterson 2, Garth). Steals: 5 (Hornbuckle 2, Taylor, Johnson, Serna). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON (5-4)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Gant	31	2-7	4-5	4-8	1	3	9
Gaddy	32	6-10	3-5	1-2	1	2	17
Wroten	34	11-21	4-9	4-7	1	2	27
Wilcox	25	2-5	2-2	0-2	2	4	7
Ross	36	5-12	4-4	0-5	2	3	16
Stewart	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Breunig	5	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Simmons	25	4-5	0-1	3-8	0	2	9
Kemp Jr	10	0-2	2-4	0-1	0	1	2
	200	30-63	19-30	12-35	8	18	87

Percentages: FG .476, FT .633. Three-point goals: 8-15, .533 (Gaddy 2-3, Ross 2-4, Simmons 1-1, Gant 1-1, Wroten 1-3, Wilcox 1-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Wilcox, Ross, Kemp Jr.). Turnovers: 7 (Wroten 5, Kemp Jr., Ross). Steals: 8 (Ross 2, Simmons 2, Wroten 2, Wilcox, Gant). Technical fouls: None.

UC Santa Barbara	47	33	—	80
Washington	44	43	—	87

Attendance: 9,246. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Mike Scyphers, Michael Irving.