Pondexter and Oliver Trade Jabs as Dawgs Beat Spartans 80-70

Quincy Pondexter and Adrian Oliver, two former room mates at UW, who came in together in the fall of 2006 were reunited at Hec-Ed on Friday night. Adrian transferred to San Jose State, but Quincy decided to go it alone and stay in rainy Seattle.

Last night it was Pondexter who looked as if he came out on the better end of the stick in more ways than just individual stats. Q has become more of a complete player than Oliver and more of a team player. Quincy scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, both a career high. Adrian scored a game high 32 with 8 boards and 4 assists to keep San Jose State competitive, but the Dawgs were too much as a team for the Spartans and won a “Blue collar” game 80-70.

After the game Pondexter admitted that Adrian and he parted ways as friends when Oliver left UW. “Not only did he leave me as a teammate, he left me as a friend. He left me with the rent. He left everything”. Both of these guys are future pro players, so I hope that the financial arrangements will someday be sorted out, but it was marvelous to watch the two kids emerge who had struggled as freshmen to deal with the hard realities of the adjustment to Pac-10 basketball after being highly touted prep stars.

Oliver was devastating as a scorer showing a lot of the types of skills that Rodney Stuckey had exhibited in Adrian’s freshman year, in what was probably his best performance as a Dawg on the defensive end. Oliver slowed down Stuckey in the second half of that game three years ago to only 10 points after a virtual clinic of 21 points in the 1st half. Oliver bested that number by a point and though I would have to say that I’m not as convinced of Oliver’s pro potential as I was of Rodney’s, Adrian is in the ball park.

Quincy though showed why he is the superior player, as he did all the little things to secure the win for his team and is really starting to assert himself as a true team leader. Tyreese Breshers also had a break out game of sorts, scoring 12 points and grabbing 7 boards in 20 minutes which was his longest time on the court as a Dawg. Recovering from a finger injury sustained last weekend, Breshers showed why Coach Lorenzo Romar has been so high on his prospects. He is a much more efficient and consistent scorer down low than anyone else on the team, other than perhaps Quincy who does it less with brawn and more with quickness and skill.

Isaiah Thomas had an of night on the offensive end with only 16 points, but his game has been elevated so much overall, that I don’t think that Romar can afford to put him on the bench when the shots don’t fall. He also is a solid team leader and should be the main force of leadership for the Dawgs once Pondexter’s time is through.

One other bright spot was the play of Elston Turner, who was able to get a couple of threes to go down. He had been conspicuously silent so far this year. Clarence Trent also had a decent outing, pulling down 5 boards (2nd on the team) and bringing energy off the bench, though he only scored 4 points. Now it’s on to Montana, who will come into Hec-Ed on Sunday November 29th and their star, Tacoma’s Anthony Johnson another scorer who could easily go for 30 on them again.

Here the recap from ESPN, which includes the box score.