Washington Huskies End Skid Thanks to Markelle Fultz
By Ben Renner
The Washington Huskies defeated Western Michigan this weekend 92-86 thanks to a near-triple double by superfrosh Markelle Fultz.
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Markelle Fultz was determined to prevent the Washington Huskies from dropping their fourth straight game Sunday, dropping 27 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds in the Washington win. The game was in doubt with about six minutes left, when Western Michigan’s Tucker Haymond drained a three-pointer to give the Broncos an 80-77 lead. Then Fultz decided he wasn’t going to leave this to chance. He scored ten points from that point to the end of the game, including a thunderous dunk to pump the crowd up.
It was all Fultz and the Washington Huskies after that. Dominic Green hit a three with about four minutes left to give the Dawgs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Fultz claimed after the game that he didn’t know how close he was to the first Washington triple-double ever. You can forgive Washington Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar for not realizing that history was at stake either. He had to win this game to even the Huskies’ record on the season and maybe pour a bit of cold water on his boiling hot coach’s seat, at least for now.
Western Michigan was led by 28 points from Tucker Haymond, a Seattle native and product of Garfield High School, my alma mater. Haymond no doubt wanted to put on a show for his parents at Hec Ed and he came out hot. He dropped three three-pointers early in the game, scoring nine of the Broncos’ first 11 points of the game.
The ex-Bulldog wowed Romar, who coached Haymond since he was “was probably 7, 8 years old” in his basketball camps in the city. “I’ve got to tip my hat to Tucker,” said Romar, “…we know him very, very well.” Romar also told the AP: “when a guy comes home like that it’s almost like a rival game, you just don’t know what can happen.”
The Washington Huskies now have a long homestand to right the ship before Pac-12 play begins on New Year’s Day. The Huskies face Cal Poly at home before playing “at” Seattle University. They start conference play with three straight home games after that.