Huskies Also Oust Ducks, Cal Knocked Out Of NCAAs

While Washington was knocking the Oregon St. women out of the WNIT last night with a 55-49 win, the Husky men did the same to Oregon (24-10) in the NIT, taking a close, 90-86 win. In a year where Washington has suffered considerable frustration at the hands of both Oregon schools, it had to be a satisfying evening on Montlake.

It was a case of just too much Terran Ross and Tony Wroten for the Ducks, as Ross posted a game high 24 points, and Wroten added 22 more. Olu Ashalou led Oregon with 20.

Oregon's Devoe Joseph answered a Wroten dunk with less than a minute left with a 3 pointer that made in a 2 point game. But the Huskies C.J. Wilcox went 6 of 6 at the line in the last half minute of the game while the Ducks missed all 5 of the 3 pointers they attempted during that stretch, in a game that was in doubt all the way.

It was also a case of Oregon, who got as far as they did this season on shooting, seeing their season end because of their style, when they missed 18 total 3s, and Washington made 5 more free throws than Oregon even took.

The win sends Washington (24-10) to New York City for the NIT final 4. The Huskies will next face the winner of tonight's Middle Tennessee - Minnesota game.

California (25-10) faced a tough assignment, playing Notre Dame on the Irish's home court, in the second round of the women's NCAA tournament, and despite a valiant effort, the task proved too tough, as Notre Dame (32-3) took a 73-62 win.

After the game was tied 31-31 at halftime, Notre Dame used a 10-2 start to the second half and another 13-2 run to put California into too deep a hole for the Bears to be able to climb out of.

The Golden Bears' loss leaves Stanford as the only Pac-12 team left in either NCAA tournament.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com