Bruins fall to Huskies 61-51 in final regular-season game
By Bobby Gordon
March 3, 2007 11:26 a.m.
SEATTLE, Wash. “”mdash; After trailing by as many as 16 on the road at Washington (18-2, 8-10 Pac-10), and pulling to within one point late in the game, the No. 2 Bruins (26-4, 15-3 Pac-10) fell 61-51 to the Huskies in the final game of the regular season.
The Bruins were able to make it close after enduring several long scoring droughts that gave the hosts some breathing room and energized the crowd.
The win is the second of the week against a ranked team for the Huskies, who beat USC 85-70 on Thursday.
After the Bruins pulled within one point late, the Huskies went on a 9-0 run that would ice the big upset for the seventh-place Huskies.
UCLA, having already clinched the Pac-10 regular season title with a 53-45 win at Washington State, came out flat and allowed the Huskies to jump to an early lead.
"There is no excuse for us to play on national television and not compete for 40 minutes," junior shooting guard Arron Afflalo said.
The energized Huskies held strong, keeping the lead wire-to-wire en route to the upset, while the Bruins endured several crippling scoring droughts.
"I was proud of our comeback, cutting it back to one, but in the end, they were more patient on offense than us," coach Ben Howland said. "That really hurt us today."
UCLA struggled from the floor, with sophomore point guard Darren Collison having the roughest go of it, shooting only 2 of 15 from the floor.
“Everybody has their nights,” Afflalo said of Collison’s 2-for-15 shooting. “As the point guard, he can’t worry about his (shooting) percentages, because he has to make sure everyone is on their game; it’s his duty.”
Leading the scoring for the Bruins was sophomore forward Josh Shipp with 13, while the big men for Washington had big days. Sophomore forward Jon Brockman had 18 points
and freshman center Spencer Hawes had 15.
Despite the hostile road environment and the shooting struggles, the Bruins mounted a big rally to make the game close; however, after the Bruins closed to within one point, the Huskies responded immediately to put the game out of reach.
Despite the loss, the Bruins will be the No. 1 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament and will take on either Cal or Oregon State in their first game.
ABOYA READY: Sophomore forward Alfred Aboya said after the game that he will be ready on Thursday for the beginning of the Pac-10 Tournament.
"I will be able to play on Thursday," Aboya said. "I could have played today. The coach and the trainer just decided they wanted to let the knee rest.”
With reports from Sagar Parikh and Ben Azar, Bruin Sports senior staff.
