Visitors battle to halftime tie, but Huskies pull away

What should have been an early-season tuneup for Washington was a struggle for most of the first half.

And from the way the players and coach Lorenzo Romar were talking after the game, Saturday night's 99-82 win over American University hardly felt like a victory.

For the second game in a row, the Huskies (4-0) struggled in the first half before taking over in the second.

"We were fortunate we didn't have to experience a loss to learn a lesson, but we weren't very good tonight [Saturday]," said Romar, whose team trailed Air Force at halftime in the Black Coaches Association Tournament championship game Tuesday. "We just played poorly on the defensive end. We were much better in the second half like we were against Air Force, but we can't continue that pattern."

With the score tied at 41, Washington quickly asserted itself to start the second half.

Washington made its first five field goals and 12 of 16 to start the second half. Roy, who scored only two points in the first half, scored 11 in that stretch as the Huskies outscored American 27-12 to build a 15-point lead.

Roy scored 15 of his game-high 17 in the second half and put the blame on the team's struggles on himself and fellow senior Bobby Jones.

"We've got some young players, and as veterans me and Bobby, we didn't do a good job of making sure guys were ready to go tonight," said Roy, who also had five rebounds and five assists. "We felt like tonight we took a step back. Me and Bobby just have to do a better job making sure everybody is ready to go, because they're going to follow us. This one was our fault."

The victory was Washington's 26th straight at home, tying Gonzaga for the nation's longest active winning streak. It also is the longest in Huskies history.

At one point midway through the second half, there were four players on the floor who played high-school ball in the KingCo 3A conference.

American had 2003 Mercer Island graduate Brayden Billbe and 2005 Issaquah grad Garrison Carr on the floor, while the Huskies featured two 2003 graduates, Issaquah's Hans Gasser and Mercer Island's Brandon Burmeister.

Note

• The Washington women's basketball team plays its second game of the season today at Florida State. The Huskies beat Alabama 56-52 in Friday's season opener.

John Boyle: 206-464-2364 or jboyle@seattletimes.com

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Billbe	28	5-7	1-1	2-6	1	4	11
Lay	15	1-1	0-2	2-4	1	3	2
Mercer	27	2-6	2-2	0-1	7	3	7
Ingram	33	7-18	7-7	1-3	0	3	24
Lekavicius	14	3-4	2-3	1-1	4	3	8
Lewis	10	2-3	0-0	4-8	0	2	4
Carr	13	0-5	0-0	0-0	1	1	0
Weinstein	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Gilmore	14	1-4	0-2	1-3	1	1	3
Garris	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Eitutavicius	26	5-15	4-4	2-4	1	1	16
Penny	6	0-1	0-0	2-2	1	1	0
Nichols	12	1-1	5-6	1-1	0	2	7
	200	27-65	21-27	17-36	18	24	82

Percentages: FG .415, FT .778. Three-point goals: 7-21, (Mercer 1-3, Ingram 3-8, Carr 0-3, Gilmore 1-3, Eitutavicius 2-4). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3, (Billbe, Nichols 2). Turnovers: 20, (Billbe, Lay, Mercer 3, Ingram 3, Lekavicius 3, Lewis 2, Carr, Gilmore 3, Eitutavicius 2, Nichols). Steals: 6, (Billbe, Lay, Ingram 2, Lekavicius, Eitutavicius).

WASHINGTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Jones	17	5-8	1-1	2-4	0	5	11
Williams	20	6-12	2-4	6-7	2	4	14
Brockman	29	6-9	4-5	3-6	1	1	16
Roy	25	7-14	1-2	3-5	5	1	17
Dentmon	27	2-5	3-3	1-3	2	3	8
Smith	16	2-6	0-0	3-6	5	2	4
Burmeister	12	1-4	2-2	1-1	1	1	5
Potter	2	1-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	3
Appleby	22	5-11	1-1	0-0	1	1	14
Wallace	16	0-3	1-2	1-7	2	2	1
Gasser	14	3-4	0-0	0-1	1	2	6
	200	38-77	15-20	21-43	20	22	99

Percentages: FG .494, FT .750. Three-point goals: 8-22, (Jones 0-1, Roy 2-2, Dentmon 1-2, Smith 0-3, Burmeister 1-4, Potter 1-1, Appleby 3-8, Gasser 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 7, (Jones 2, Roy 2, Dentmon, Burmeister, Wallace). Turnovers: 15, (Jones 2, Brockman 2, Roy, Dentmon 2, Smith 2, Burmeister, Potter, Appleby, Wallace, Gasser 2). Steals: 7, (Williams, Brockman 2, Dentmon 2, Smith 2).

American University	41	41	—	82
Washington	41	58	—	99

Attendance: 9,021. Officials: Tom Wood, Martin Cota, Frank Harvey.Technical fouls: American University-None. Washington-None.