Dec. 29, 2005
SEATTLE (AP) - Brandon Roy made good on a season-long promise to turn up his game in Pac-10 play, scoring a career-high 35 points to lead No. 7 Washington to a 91-67 victory over Arizona State on Thursday night in the conference opener for both teams.
Roy matched his season average of 16 points in the first half, which ended with the Huskies rallying to take a 40-38 lead. He scored his next 14 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half as Washington (11-0) extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 31 games.
The Huskies are off to their best start since the 1975-76 team began 14-0. The next test for their highest national ranking since 1984 comes Saturday at home against Arizona.
Kevin Kruger had 18 points for Arizona State (6-4). The Sun Devils have six new players from last season's 18-14 team. They lost Pac-10 Player of the Year Ike Diogu to the NBA last summer and senior forward Allen Morill to knee surgery this month.
On Thursday, starters Bryson Krueger and Jeff Pendergraph fouled out.
Washington scored the final four points of the first half and the first 10 after halftime to seize control of a rugged, physical game. Roy punctuated the second-half start with a 3-pointer and mini strut to celebrate.
When he made his fourth 3-pointer in as many tries 2 minutes later, Washington had its biggest lead, 57-45 with 15:20 left. Roy's next act was a soaring slam of a lob pass from Justin Dentmon with 12:23 left. That increased the lead to 63-47 and left the sellout crowd roaring.
Washington, the nation's leader in scoring at 91.6 points per game coming in, missed its first 10 shots. Through that, Arizona State led 9-2. It was the Huskies' largest deficit since Nov. 15, when they trailed Air Force by nine.
Washington then went on a seemingly inevitable, 17-6 run to seize the lead.
Roy was the only Husky with more than one basket until Joel Smith made consecutive layups in the final 36 seconds of the opening half.