Washington 75, Arizona 66

2/22/2008 12:43 AM

By GREGG BELL
AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE (AP) -Venoy Overton scored a career-high 19 points and led a pack of Huskies that swarmed Arizona star freshman Jerryd Bayless into cold shooting as Washington upset the Wildcats 75-66 on Thursday night.

Overton had 19 points in his previous six games combined before the freshman point guard erupted for 15 in the second half of this foul-filled game.

Jon Brockman added 15 points and 15 rebounds for Washington (15-12, 6-8 Pac-10), which after beating then-No. 5 UCLA got hammered in a miserable effort at struggling Oregon last week.

For this upset, Washington forced Bayless to miss 12 of 18 shots. Bayless, who last weekend became the first Arizona player to score 30 or more points in three consecutive games, finished with 22.

Jawann McClellan added 19 for Arizona (16-10, 6-7 Pac-10), which is in jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament after 23 consecutive appearances. It's the nation's second-longest streak behind North Carolina's 27 from 1985-2001.

Arizona plays Saturday at No. 17 Washington State, then goes home to play Southern California and sixth-ranked UCLA.

No Pac-10 team that has finished 9-9 in conference play has made it to the NCAA tournament. Yet aside from already beating Washington State inside the conference, the Wildcats have beaten No. 22 Texas A&M and lost to Virginia, No. 4 Kansas and top-ranked Memphis.

Washington's relentless hounding of Bayless included assigning 6-foot-9 Matthew Bryan-Amaning to double-team him 40 feet from the basket. That forced Bayless into three charging fouls in the first half and seven turnovers in all.

Chase Budinger, Arizona's second-leading scorer, got his fourth foul with 11 minutes remaining. Overton hit the two subsequent free throws to put Washington up 45-38.

Overton then pushed in a shotput-like heave while being pulled to the floor by Arizona's Kirk Walters for a three-point play. And when Quincy Pondexter slashed for a layup and Tim Morris made a floater, the Huskies seemed in command at 52-39 with 9 1/2 minutes left.

But the Wildcats then went on a 14-3 run with Jordan Hill, playing with four fouls, scoring five of those points. Brockman left with his fourth foul during Arizona's spurt, with 5:58 left.

Then Budinger fouled out at the 5:12 mark with Washington ahead 59-53. Budinger had 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting.

While Arizona managed only singular free throws on three consecutive trips, Overton made his eighth and ninth free throws in nine tries in the second half, then a driving basket. Brockman's power move put the Huskies back up by 10, 65-55, with three minutes to go.

Washington sharpshooter Ryan Appleby was 2-for-10 from the field - but those two were consecutive 3-pointers late in the first half. The latter one, from deep behind the arc with 1:58 left in the half, gave the Huskies a 28-24 lead and Appleby the school record for 3-pointers. The 213 for the senior from Stanwood, Wash., are one more than Deon Luton had from 1997-2000.