February 20, 1999

Box Score

SEATTLE, Wash. - Needing a win against Washington to bolster its postseason tournament hopes, the Cal men's basketball team fell to the Huskies, 86-61, Saturday afternoon.

The Bears dropped to 14-10 overall and 5-9 in the Pac-10, while Washington improved to 16-9 and 9-6.

The game stayed close for the first seven minutes, with UW leading 12-10 with 12:45 left. But at that point, the Huskies quickly opened up a 25-14 lead, with Michael Johnson contributing seven points during the run. Washington pushed the lead to as many as 16 points and went into the locker room up, 36-22, at the break.

Cal scored the first five points of the second half, but after that point, it was all Huskies. With center Todd MacCulloch controlling the inside (17 points, 19 rebounds) and guard Deon Luton scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half, Washington led by as many as 33 points. The Huskies finished the game with reserves playing the final five minutes.

One of the few bright spots for Cal was a 10-point effort by freshman center Solomon Hughes off the bench. The loss was the worst for the Bears since they lost to Stanford, 92-66, on Jan. 15, 1992.

"Trying to find the right combination (of players) is difficult right now because we're not getting consistent play," Cal head coach Ben Braun said. "We didn't see the effort we wanted. Our freshmen were more poised than our upper-classmen.

"Playing Arizona next week will be a helluva challenge. Our challenges only get greater."

To begin the game, Braun gave Raymond King his second start of the year at point guard, replacing Geno Carlisle, and all 12 players who made the trip saw action against the Huskies.