UW loses, 19-game winning streak ends

Mekhi Mason hit the game’s first shot, a soft bounce, and then the Huskies went into a lengthy slump, going almost without another field goal for the next eight minutes and falling behind their crosstown rivals 16-3. At this point they were completely clueless from the floor, 1 for 8.

They weren’t very good on defense either, giving up a four-point play to the Redhawks’ John Christofilis, the Seattle-raised Creighton transfer and long-range shooter, by punting him again after a three-pointer three minutes into the game Game start.

In the second half, the Huskies did it again, hacking Christofilis as another three-pointer whistled through from the corner.

It was the Husky gift that keeps on giving.

The Redhawks’ Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, a 6-foot-2 forward who previously played for Georgia and Oklahoma State, led everyone with 23 points and 16 rebounds, scoring several times against the home team, while Christofilis backed him up with 21 points.

For UW, Portland transfer and 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Tyler Harris led the way with 20 points, while 6-foot-8 senior Great Oobor, the Utah State transfer, had 19 points and 10 rebounds contributed.

“If you don’t shoot, you still have to pay attention, and we didn’t do that,” Oobor said. “They just threw butts out.”

One of the early problems for the Huskies was that they couldn’t get their best outside shooter, DJ Davis, in front long enough to attempt a field goal in the first ten minutes of the game, let alone score one.

This came after Davis scored his best of the season with 21 points last week against the Cougars. So much for the momentum with this basketball team.

Davis eventually failed on a couple of three-point shots before missing one with 8:11 left in the half to pull his team to within 21-13. He would score three points on 1-for-6 shooting, with all attempts coming from behind the line.

However, the Huskies were very one-dimensional on offense until halftime. Oobor scored his team’s final 10 points, while Seattle U had six different players score, extending the lead to 15.

The last change in the first half was typical for the rest of the game.

Redhawks reserve guard Brayden Maldanado sneaked inside for an uncontested throw-in, and the Huskies came back, put the ball in the hands of Oobor and watched as he rammed a defender, committed an offensive foul that went uncalled, and then the ball lost its trickle as the buzzer sounded.

There were still twenty minutes left.

After that it only went uphill: Seattle U let the Huskies get within 54:45 with nine and a half minutes left and 77:70 with 26 seconds left.

“We have better players than we showed, but our competitiveness makes me angry,” Sprinkle said. “We better start competing.”

The Huskies don’t play again until next Sunday when they host NJIT, also known as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which is currently 2-11. The game starts at 12:00 p.m.

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