The Killer B’s of Cole Bajema, Jamal Bey, Keion Brooks, Braxton Meah combined for 58 of Washington’s 73 points as the Huskies defended the home court against the Colorado Buffalos Sunday afternoon, moving Washington’s record to 7-2 on the season and evening their Pac-12 Conference record at 1-1.
Up by six points, 33-26, at the half it looked like Washington would run away with the game at point in the second half until Braxton Meah received his fourth personal foul.
Brooks had given the Huskies a 14-point lead, 54-40 when Meah went to the bench with his 4th personal foul. With the youngster Jackson Grant on the court the Buffalos went on 9-0 run to cut the Washington lead to 5 points.
With Meah on the bench the Huskies went cold with no points in a 4-plus-minute dry spell. Meah ended the scoring drought with a dunk that was set up by a PJ Fuller block on a fast break layup. Cole Bajema grabbed the loose ball off of the block and fed Koren Johnson who delivered a perfect lob to Meah who slammed in a two-handed dunk with 5:51 remaining in the contest.
The Meah dunk extended the Washington lead to 56-49 but the Buffalo wouldn’t go away, continually attacking the rim with Meah saddled with 4 fouls. Colorado cut the Husky lead to 2 with four quick points and a free throw.
Nursing a 2-point lead Fuller drove hard to the hoop hitting the layup and got hacked on the shot. Fuller knocked down the and-1.
Bajema had his best game of the year as he created 3 turnovers and dropped in a three-pointer to give UW a 6-point advantage. The Lynden-product finished with a game high 16 points, including 3 for 5 from behind the arch and hitting all three of his free throws. He also helped to ignite Washington’s rally in the closing minutes with the cross-court pass that led to the Meah dunk.
In fact, Meah played the final 2 minutes with four fouls as the Huskies were able to pull away. also finished with 16 points in twenty-four quality minutes. Brooks chipped in 14 points and 7 rebounds while Jamal Bey had 12 points and 5 steals.
The Huskies will now prepare for their Friday night matchup in Spokane against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
