How Sweet it is; Huskies advance to round of 16

Regardless of whether they deserved a number one seed or not, the Washington Huskies commanded most of the game, en route to a 97-79 victory over Pacific to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.

"We as a staff are proud of our guys," Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "Our guys went out and competed as well as we have all year."

The Huskies started out strong, taking an early 17-7 lead to begin the game, led by 11 points from Bobby Jones.

"Before we came out one of our assistant coaches, you know, they just gave us some words of inspiration," Jones said. "I just felt like I needed to come out and make a statement."

A statement he made, finishing with 19 points in just 22 minutes of play due to foul trouble.

The Tigers came back and tied the game on two occasions in the first half. Christian Maraker had 12 points in the first 12 minutes, but never scored again the rest of the way out.

"He's a competitor. Before the game the coaching staff told us that he was going to be hard to guard," UW guard Nate Robinson said.

Coming out of the half, the Huskies went on a 13-3 run, and never looked back.

In the first half, it was all Jones, then little Nate Robinson took over. The 5 foot, 9-inch guard scored 18 of his 23 points after intermission as the Huskies led by as many as 26 with just over three minutes to play.

"Me and my teammates joke about me being small, but they know I play big," Robinson said. "I got a big heart, and that's all that matters."

Five Huskies scored in double figures, and Mike Jensen scored nine for UW.

Center Guillaume Yango led Pacific with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Trevor Horn

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