Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half Saturday night as Washington returned from an extended absence with a 64-56 home win over crosstown rival Seattle.
Matthews, a West Virginia transfer, added 11 rebounds as the Huskies improved to 5-4. Terrell Brown Jr. overcame first-half foul trouble to finish with 16 points, and PJ Fuller chipped in 11 as Washington notched its 17th straight win over the Redhawks.
Riley Grigsby scored a game-high 20 points for Seattle (8-4) and Darrion Trammell added 18, but neither one could carry the Redhawks through a nightmare stretch to start the second half.
The Huskies hit them with a 20-2 run, including 13 straight at one point, to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into a 48-37 advantage.
Seattle went 7:10 without scoring, leaving it chasing the game for its remainder without much success. Trammell’s layup brought the Redhawks within 51-45 at the 8:27 mark, but Washington ripped off the next eight points for a 59-45 lead on Brown’s driving layup with 5:33 left.
The Redhawks made only 34.8 percent of their shots and committed 18 turnovers, which the Huskies converted into 22 points.
It marked Washington’s first game in 21 days, thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak that led to the cancellation of three straight games. That included a marquee matchup at No. 5 Gonzaga.
And during the first half, the Huskies looked like a team that had endured an extended layoff. They shot poorly from 3-point range and the foul line as Seattle wasted little time taking and building on its lead.
The Redhawks led by as many as 11 points in the half, getting 12 points each from Trammell and Grigsby. They even got a very fortunate break to end the half when Vas Panda’s corner 3-pointer hit the front of the rim, took a high bounce and ripped through the net, giving them a 35-28 advantage at the break.
–Field Level Media