Huskies dusted by Cowboys

In Saturday's 92-76 loss in Laramie, Wyo., the Huskies were doomed from the start, going scoreless for the first six minutes. They missed their first 11 shots in their first road contest of the year as Wyoming avenged a Husky win from a year ago behind stellar play from the Cowboy backcourt.

Wyoming guards Jay Straight and Dion Sherell combined for 34 points while Mory Correa added 16.

With 17 minutes to play in the second half, the Huskies (3-2) were down by 38 points, 61-23, after Correa's reverse lay-up on the baseline. However, behind Curtis Allen's six three-pointers, the Huskies made it respectable, at one point cutting the Wyoming lead to 11.

Too little, too late. Wyoming (3-2) held the Dawgs at bay after bolting to a 49-19 lead at halftime.

"It was a long way to come back down that many points at halftime," said Husky coach Lorenzo Romar. "We came out in the second half and it looked like it was going to be more of the same, but our guys started defending and because our defense turned up, we started to gain confidence offensively and Curtis Allen got hot."

With 5:32 to play, Washington's defense made the Cowboys play honest with a full-court press. A Brandon Roy steal and finger-roll lay-in narrowed the score 80-69, but then came the fouls. Wyoming put the game away at the line, hitting eight consecutive at the charity stripe down the stretch.

"A big stat I think, was that we went to the line seven times," Romar said. "Prior to that we had been going to the 25-30 times a game. If we're not getting to the line we definitely not as good as an offensive team."

Allen's three-point barrage was the lone highlight for the Huskies. Shooting six-for-nine from three-point land, the senior was one three ball away from tying the UW record for threes in one game. Senque Carey had seven in 1999, as did Deon Luton the previous year. The good performance meant nothing to Allen after suffering back-to-back defeats.

"I got a couple to go down and coach called some plays for me, and I was able to get open and they fell for me," Allen explained. "But there are no excuses, we got straight beat."

Off the bench Bobby Jones had 14 points accompanied by Will Conroy's dozen, and starter Mike Jensen tallied nine with five rebounds. Brandon Roy came into the game as the Husky scoring leader, but was held to an early season low of six. Breathing problems hampered Roy, as the elevation in Laramie is more than 7,000 feet.

Sophomore Nate Robinson, the UW scoring leader last season, finished with just two points and five rebounds. Robinson has yet to put together a complete game since his 14-point effort in a win over Eastern Washington two weeks ago.

For the second consecutive game, the Huskies were abused on the glass, out-rebounded 52-30. Washington now takes a two-week break for finals, with its next game Dec. 30 at home against Columbia.