SEATTLE – Washington showed the energy Mike Hopkins had hoped to see against Boise State in the first round NIT matchup Wednesday night.

The Huskies used a late 8-0 run sparked by junior Dominic Green with under five minutes remaining to advance in postseason play for the first time since the 2015-16 season, a second round exit in the very same NIT Tournament.

Green added only his second score of the game with 1:36 remaining in the game, extending the lead and inevitably sealing the Huskies 77-74 victory.

BSU battled back from a game-high 17-point deficit in the first half to cut the margin to just three, 48-45 as the teams headed towards a boiling fourth quarter. The Broncos ended the third quarter on a 7-0 run and outscored the Huskies 24-12 in the period.

“I just think that he’s a great coach and they’ve got a championship program. They got one of the best players in the country that nobody knows about,” Hopkins said after the game, crediting Leon Rice and Chandler Hutchison in that order, two staples of the Broncos men’s basketball program.

UW maintained its slim lead early, extending it to an even dozen, 64-52 with 3:31 remaining in the game. The elastic score margin shrunk to four with 2:12 left on the clock, spread back to double digits with under one-minute remaining at 75-65.

Freshman guard Jaylen Nowell led the Huskies in scoring with 25 points on 7 of 11 shooting, 3 of 5 from behind the extended 3-point line – the NIT is using the international distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches.

With the lead firmly in hand Hopkins instructed his team to not foul in the final minute. Nowell, who is one of four freshmen on the Huskies roster, heard one BSU player say ‘if we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down fighting’, reinforcing the energy needed to see out the last :60 seconds.

Leading 77-72 with :10 seconds left junior Matisse Thybulle got tagged for his fifth and final foul, replaced by freshman guard Michael Carter IIII. The video scoreboard inside Hec Ed Pavillion appeared to show no contact between Thybulle, the ball or Hutchison.

Hutchison made both free throws to pull BSU within three before Lexus Williams had two chances to put the game into overtime. His first attempted was blocked by Green, who also had seven rebounds to go with his five points in the game.

The second clanked off the rim as the backboard illuminated sending UW onto the second round of the NIT to face St. Mary’s next Monday at 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPNU.

UW made its first postseason appearance in two years, third in the last five years dating back to the 2013-14 season. The Huskies have made the NIT four of the last seven seasons but haven’t made it past the second round since losing 68-67 in overtime to No. 6 seed Minnesota in the 2012 NIT semifinals.