Isaiah Thomas celebrates after hitting the game-winning shot.
Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
The best player on the court Saturday made the biggest shot.
Washington point guard Isaiah Thomas, brilliant for most of the game as a scorer and distributor, went one-on-one with MoMo Jones on the final possession of overtime, crossed over to his left, stepped back near the 3-point arc … and drilled the jumper in the final second for a 77-75 victory.
“That’s just going to go down as one of the best shots in the Pac-10 tournament history,” said Arizona forward Derrick Williams.
Just a great game. Not unlike the game the teams played in Tucson last month, when Williams delivered last-second heroics with a blocked shot.
Washington battled back in the final minute of regulation, hitting three 3-pointers in the final 33 seconds. Arizona fought hard too, and played well enough to win. Kevin Parrom tied the game with a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left in overtime.
But it was too much Thomas, who finished with 28 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
And so the Huskies win the Pac-10 tournament, denying Arizona its first tourney title since 2002. The Wildcats will go into the NCAA Tournament with a 27-7 record.
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Matthew Bryan-Amaning fouls out with 3:06 to go in overtime.
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Washington with the early edge in OT, leading 73-70 with 3:33 to play. On a recent UA possession, Kevin Parrom fired up a 3-pointer early in the shot clock. Not the best of choices.
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MoMo Jones misses a running 3-pointer on final possession and time expires. Bonus basketball from Staples Center, with the game tied at 68.
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MoMo Jones makes two free throws with 14.0 seconds left for a 3-point leader. But Washington’s Isaiah Thomas drives and dishes to C.J. Wilcox for a 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left to tie the game at 68.
All due credit to Washington, which makes 3 of 3 3-pointers in final 33 seconds.
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Great game. Terrence Ross responds with a 3-pointer from the corner with 17.2 seconds left.
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Derrick Williams drives to the hoop for the and-one basket with 26.8 seconds left. He makes the free throw for a 66-62 lead.
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Don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can’t wait to hear Gus Johnson call it.
Isaiah Thomas buries a 3-pointer to bring Washington within 63-62 with 32.7 seconds left.
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Arizona has been making the key plays late in the game, taking a 63-59 lead with 1:43 to go. Solomon Hill, among others, delivers with a pump fake near the basket and then getting a goaltending call.
Derrick Williams goes up for a reverse dunk on a fast break in the first half against Washington.
Photo by Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE
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Hang on. A MoMo Jones’ 3-pointer brings Arizona within 59-58. The Wildcats call timeout with 3:30 to play. Who is going to hit the big shot, come up with a steal, block a key shot, drill the late free throws?
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Not MoMo Jones’ night so far. He is called for a charge with 6:18 left. He has one point. Meanwhile, Isaiah Thomas has 23 points.
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No matter what happens, Arizona and Washington putting on a good Pac-10 show on CBS. Nice boost for league’s image.
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Washington leads 55-54 with 7:38 to play. Is it Derrick Williams time? This has the makings of a thrilling finish, and the intensity is headed off the charts.
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Is it time to start worrying that Kyle Fogg won’t be close to 100 percent for the NCAA Tournament?
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Arizona, the best free-throw shooting team in the Pac-10, is 10 of 17 from the line. Costly?
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Washington with all the momentum now, and big man Matthews Bryan-Amaning is beginning to show up. The Huskies lead 50-46 with 11:53 to go.
Washington is on a 17-6 run.
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With such a glaring difference in point guard play, perhaps Arizona is lucky to be tied at 46 with 13:08 to play.
I kept shaking my head when the Fox Sports Net announcers kept saying in the past couple of days that MoMo Jones should have made at least second-team All-Pac-10. Jones had his moments, and he played better late in the season, but he’s also capable of disappearing, as he has so far today.
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Darnell Gant swats away a Derrick Williams shot. Yeah, I still think Williams is one-up on Gant in the emphatic block category.
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Washington takes a 44-43 lead with 15 minutes left on an alley-oop from Isaiah Thomas to Terrence Ross. But Derrick Williams answers with a dunk of his own.
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Arizona had a seven-point lead early in the second half, but Washington is on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 42 with 15:34 to play.
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No argument with Arizona’s interior defense in the past two games. Matthew Bryan-Amaning has yet to score with 17:20 to play in the game.
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Two thoughts that should make you happy: Solomon Hill as a senior, Kevin Parrom as a senior.
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Tweets Javier Morales: Former UW player Eldridge Recasner overheard in press dining area: I can’t believe we’re down only 3 after playing that bad
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(Sorry. The ability to comment on the blog was turned off. It is back on. So comment away.)
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MoMo Jones falls asleep and has his pocket picked by Isaiah Thomas as Arizona was playing for the final shot of the half. Thomas gets fouled on the fast break and makes two free throws.
Back on the other end, Jones misses a 3-pointer … so the game goes to halftime with the Wildcats leading 36-33.
No doubt, this is going to the wire.
Thomas was 19 points at the break.
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Derrick Williams makes two free throws with 48.8 seconds left for a 36-31 lead. Arizona is 6 of 11 from the line.
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Tweets Javier Morales: How much do #ArizonaWildcats fans dislike Dick Vitale? He was shown on big screen ad here and was booed lustily. Maybe some UDub fans joined
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Isaiah “Jimmer” Thomas with 17 points with 2:23 to go in the first half. Arizona leads 32-29.
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Jamelle Horne and Kevin Parrom team up for a two-man block from behind on Isaiah Thomas’ layup attempt. No easy baskets.
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Now, Arizona is carving up Washington’s zone, able to make the interior pass into the lane and hitting threes (thank you, Jordin Mayes). Arizona leads 32-24 with 4:53 to play in the half. UA on a 7-0 run.
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Unfortunate sequence for Arizona, as Solomon Hill can’t finish on a fast-break, leading to a Washington run-out on the other end. Isaiah Thomas gets fouled with 7:38 left as Arizona leads 21-19 heading into a timeout.
The Huskies have been playing zone, and Arizona hasn’t been making them pay yet, missing its outside shots.
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Arizona’s first foul comes with 9:23 left in the half, charged to Derrick Williams. Washington has seven fouls.
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Arizona leads 17-14 at the second TV timeout with 11:54 left in the half. Isaiah Thomas has seven points for Washington. In four previous games against Sean Miller-coached Arizona, Thomas has averaged 14.75 points, 6.5 assists and 4.75 rebounds.
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Damien Alameda of KOLD Channel 13 notes via Twitter that Jesse Perry has scored the first Wildcat points in all three tournament games.
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Two Pac-10 teams that love to run. Kind of brings a tear to my eye.
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Scott Suggs hits a jumper for Washington. Remember, he was injured and did not play when Arizona beat the Huskies in Tucson last month. He is a dangerous 3-point shooter.
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Solomon Hill, who was scoreless Friday night against USC, has four early points. CBS analyst Bob Wenzel with two early mistakes, saying Kyle Fogg was injured against USC (that would be Oregon last Saturday) and commenting that Hill was undersized for a four-man (he does play inside at times, but is rarely the actual four-man.)
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Isaiah Thomas opens the scoring with a 3-pointer. He has played 78 minutes in the past two games over two games, so Arizona hopes he runs out of gas at some point while it rotates MoMo Jones and Jordin Mayes on him.
Washington leads 3-2 with 17:31 to play.
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As expected, Kevin Parrom makes his third consecutive start for Kyle Fogg (quad strain). If Arizona gets 15 good minutes from Fogg, the Cats will be happy.
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Welcome to the game blog. I’m ready to settle into some basketball after spending the morning at the Arizona football pro day — running back Nic Grigsby was sensational — and spending time in the TucsonCitizen.com booth at the Festival of Books on the Arizona campus.
As for the hoops, Javier Morales is on the scene for us at the Staples Center. He already has posted a couple of pieces today:
Add Gary Payton to list of Isaiah Thomas mentors, supporters
Bryan-Amaning chomping at the bit for another shot at Arizona Wildcats
Morales will be tweeting the game: @JavierJMorales
And we’ll end this intro with a picture from way back (well, 2002), when Arizona last won the Pac-10 tournament title.
Teammates mob freshman Salim Stoudamire after the 2002 championship victory over USC. Photo by Francisco Medina, Tucson Citizen