Washington Men's Hoops Blowout EWU 87-69

Washington men's basketball coach Danny Sprinkle started the hot hand of guard Mekhi Mason on Tuesday night against Eastern Washington, and the junior transfer delivered with a season-high 23-points to lead the team to an 87-69 victory, ending a brief two-game losing streak. 

Mason, who scored 15 points off the bench in Saturday's loss at Alaska Airlines Arena 85-61 loss to USC, did most of his damage from 3-point range. 

The former Rice University product knocked down a career high 5-of-7 from deep, with the Huskies as a team combining for 10-of-19 against the Eagles at home, which ties the previous season high of 10 3-pointers set back on Nov. 28 against Colorado State in the Acrisure Invitational. 

UW (7-3, 0-2 Big Ten) responded well against an inferior EWU squad after a slow opening few minutes that saw the two teams tied 15-15 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half. 

Senior forward Great Osobor — held to just 9 points in 26 minutes against the Trojans — added a pair of layups before Mason knocked down one of his five shots from deep to widen the score, finishing with 16 points on 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) shooting, the most efficient game the former Utah State Mountain West Player of the Year has had this season. 

Sophomore guard Tyler Harris added 15 points and freshman Zoom Diallo scored 14, with the duo combining to shoot 12-of-17 from the floor. 

The Huskies went into halftime ahead 39-32 after Diallo converted a layup just prior to the buzzer — shooting 51.7 percent — and the second half only saw the margin increase as Sprinke saw his team end the night shooting a season-high 60.7 percent (34-of-56). 

Mason, whose career-high remains intact at 30 points set back on Feb. 3, 2024 against UTSA, scored 15 points in the second half alone with a trio of 3-pointers to seal the 18-point victory. 

Washington returns to the court next Wednesday to host former Pac-12 Conference rival Washington State at 8 p.m.