Another Husky rises in win over Texas Tech

SEATTLE - Justin Holiday had just the kind of game his coach knew he could.

The senior had 17 of his career-high 20 points in the first half to lead No. 23 Washington past Texas Tech 108-79 on Saturday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

"He had a phenomenal game," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "He's a stat-sheet stuffer. He had 17 in the first half. Good players can score or good players can defend. The great players can do both. He did a great job."

db]Matthew Bryan-Amaning[/db] added 18 points, Isaiah Thomas had 16 and C.J. Wilcox scored 11 for Washington (5-2), which won its second consecutive game after two losses to Top 25 teams Kentucky and Michigan State at the Maui Invitational.

Holiday hit a career-high four 3-pointers and finished with nine rebounds.

"I felt normal," Holiday said. "A lot of my shots were open so I didn't have to force them. And every time I shot I didn't really think about it."

Brad Reese scored 19 while John Roberson and David Tairu had 14 apiece to lead Texas Tech (5-4), which has lost three of its last four games.

The Huskies led 61-42 at halftime before the Red Raiders scored seven in a row to get within 75-62 with 12:28 left. Bryan-Amaning responded with two free throws and two dunks to push the lead to 19 and help the Huskies cruise to their 24th straight non-conference home win.

The Huskies closed the first half with an 8-0 run, including a lay-in and dunk by Bryan-Amaning. Holiday nearly broke his career high of 18 by that point, after scoring 13 points - including three 3-pointers - to give the Huskies a 14-8 lead in the opening 4 minutes.

The Huskies, a 141/2-point favorite, used a 19-6 run midway through the first half to lead 43-27 after Texas Tech had cut the lead to 24-21 on Roberson's five straight points.

"I think they are better than they were last year," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. "They pass the ball a lot better. Last year they relied on a couple of guys more than they do this year. I mean they have five guys out on the floor who are a threat. Especially, deep threats."

Washington entered the game as the second-highest scoring team in the nation at 93.7 points per game and second in assists at 20 per game. The Huskies finished with 21 assists.

"We shared the ball, made the extra pass quite a bit," Romar said. "The first few minutes of the second half we were kind of rushing things and shooting the ball too quickly and we settled down after that."

The Huskies avenged a 99-92 overtime loss to Texas Tech last season.

Mike Singletary, who had 29 points and 13 rebounds as Texas Tech beat Oral Roberts 86-82 on Tuesday, had just six points against Washington, all in the first half.

"I think that we scored enough points," Knight said. "We average around 80 points a game, and that's definitely enough to win, but we killed ourselves with turnovers. They had 28 points off turnovers and when we turn the ball over and they can score off of it then we have a problem. We killed ourselves from that standpoint."