Huskies get a painful win over Seattle U
Jan 10, 2012, 10:39 PM
By Shannon Drayer
A hockey game threatened to break out tonight at the Alaska Airlines Arena as the Huskies hosted Seattle U. A total of 61 fouls were committed and 85 free throws attempted by the two teams in a game the Huskies eventually won. To put this into perspective, Tony Wroten made 12 free throws.
The good news is, that wasn’t in 24 attempts. Eighteen rather. In total the Huskies took 59 trips (two shy of the school record which was set against Seattle U two years ago) to the line and made 37 shots as Seattle U fouled at will. None of this was a surprise according to CJ Wilcox.
“You know it is going to be a physical game always when you are playing Seattle U,” he said. “They are definitely a physical team. Really scrappy.”
Wilcox bounced back from his shooting woes against Utah to score a career high 25 points. Wroten finished with 24 points and a myriad of injuries the two most serious, a hip pointer and what appeared to be an elbow bruise after a hard foul by Eric Wallace under the Huskies basket. Wroten will not practice tomorrow but when asked what the chance was that he would not be able to play against WSU this weekend answered “Negative seven.”
Lorenzo Romar after the game acknowledged that the rivalry is building between the two teams.
“From day one you knew that each year the score would probably get closer and closer and we saw that tonight,” he said. “I would think that the way our teams play every year it is going to be a hard fought battle.”
He smiled when he asked if the Redhawks reflected the personality of coach Cameron Dollar, Romar’s former assistant.
“Oh totally, totally his personality,” he said. “You can see it. He’s pitbull. Always has been.”
For a time it looked like Dollar had the opportunity to pull off the upset. The full court press and the constant subbing of players (he used 11 in the first half) helped keep the game close and at times looked to be wearing down the Huskies. It was somewhat ironic that in the week that Romar added a tight end to the team for toughness his team was pressed to step it up in that department without their new addition.
Dollar saw the toughness from both teams.
“Neither one of us is going to back down,” he said. “To me they are a naturally attacking team. Romar has a naturally attacking style. We’ve been together for years so we were doing this together. So now that we’re separated that’s not going to change. We’re just going to keep doing it. It’s a healthy respect for each other.”
Respect on both sides as a rivalry grows.
