SEATTLE – Will Conroy’s value to the University of Washington men’s basketball team goes beyond the stat sheet.
The Huskies’ senior point guard wasn’t Washington’s top scorer, rebounder or go-to guy Friday, but he was as responsible as any in a white jersey for the 13th-ranked Huskies’ 81-67 victory over Cal at a sold-out Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
“He was a warrior down the stretch,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said following both teams’ Pacific-10 Conference opener. “If Will’s not on the floor tonight, I don’t know if we win that game.”
When the Huskies (11-1, 1-0 Pac-10) needed him most, when the Golden Bears (7-4, 0-1) tore into a 16-point deficit to take a 60-57 lead with 91/2 minutes remaining, Conroy made the big-time assist for the easy basket. He forced turnovers. He chewed out his teammates.
And coming out of a timeout, Conroy waved his arms, urging the 10,000 in attendance to get off their keisters and scream.
Which they did, enough to shake the building and dim the scoreboard lights.
“Without them, where would we be?” Conroy asked. “They made this place a hostile environment, a tremendous place on the West Coast to play. We’ve got to use that to our advantage.
“I’m the kind of guy that gives you no slack when you’re sitting in the chair.”
Cal fought bravely and furiously back from a 41-25 deficit late in the first half. Over the next 12 minutes, the Golden Bears went on a 34-18 tear that had the Huskies reeling.
Cal guard Richard Midgley, a native of Burgess Hill, England, was the trigger. Strong and compact, Midgley tied the game at 49 with a long 3-pointer (one of his four for the day) and later hit another to give the Bears a 56-53 advantage with 11:20 left in the game.
Two things happened during Cal’s run. One, the Bears finally stopped turning the ball over and two, they used their considerable size advantage. Six-foot-10 Rod Benson scored eight and long-armed Marquise Kately seven in that time.
Meanwhile, Washington was busy tossing the ball either to a Golden Bear or into the seventh row.
“We were able to settle down and play some pretty good basketball in the second half,” Cal coach Ben Braun said. “Our players got some composure back and we established ourselves.”
To Conroy, the Huskies were as responsible as Cal.
“They were just being tougher than we were,” said Conroy, who finished with 11 points and seven assists. “That’s usually what we strive on. When they came out of timeouts, they had that look, like, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ We came back into a timeout and I told our team, ‘Let’s not forget where we come from.’ We know how to play from behind.”
As quickly as Cal got back into the game, Washington took the Bears out.
Led by Conroy, the Huskies defense held Cal to without a point for 4:21 and without a field goal for 5:09. Many of Midgley’s seven turnovers came in that stretch, primarily forced by Conroy, which enabled Washington to go on a 13-1 run.
“He didn’t score a lot, but he helped us with our mentality and our toughness,” Simmons said of Conroy.
Jamaal Williams scored four and Joel Smith and Tre Simmons three in Washington’s decisive run. The Huskies gradually pulled away the rest of the way.
Only a late Cal rally made the first half respectable. Seven straight points, five by Midgley turned a 41-25 Husky lead to 41-32. A pair of turnovers and five straight missed UW shots let the Bears back into the game.
Before that, Washington dominated.
An eight-minute stretch in which the Huskies converted 10 of 12 attempts from the floor (a string that included five 3-pointers) gave Washington a 33-17 advantage with 7:20 remaining in the half. Simmons scored eight points in that time, while Smith added seven.
For the half, Washington was 7-for-11 from 3-point range.
Conroy finished the half with seven points and four assists. Jones had five points and five rebounds.
Midgley led all scorers with 12 points. He finished with a team-high 18.
Simmons led the Huskies with 18 points, despite foul trouble. Jones added 16 points and nine rebounds.
NOTES
Roy out: UW standout guard Brandon Roy did not play Friday after complaining during warm-ups that his right knee was sore. The knee, injured Nov. 26, underwent arthroscopic surgery four days later to repair a lateral meniscus tear. Romar said the soreness isn’t believed to be serious and that Roy may play Sunday against Stanford.
Conroy moving up: With seven assists Friday, Conroy is second in school history with 377 assists. He moved ahead of Eldridge Recasner, who amassed 376 from 1976 to 1980. Chester Dorsey (1974-77) holds the school record with 466.
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