Box Score Associated Press
SEATTLE -- Mississippi Valley State was just under 13 minutes away from claiming one of its biggest victories in recent history Friday night at Washington.
But a late run by the Huskies was enough to send Washington to a 90-85 win over the Delta Devils in the first of two games on the West Coast for MVSU (3-8).
Washington (7-5) held the Delta Devils scoreless for over five minutes as the Huskies mounted an 18-0 run to break the game open in the second half.
After a layup by Valley's Jeffrey Simmons tied the game at 56 with 12:40 left to play, Washington began to pull away. MVSU's Anthony McDonald halted the Huskies run with a layup at the 7:26 mark.
Perris Blackwell scored 17 points with 10 rebounds as Washington out-rebounded the Delta Devils by a 51-29 margin.
"You're not going to win any basketball games when you're getting out-rebounded like that," MVSU head coach Chico Potts said.
Washington built a 10-point lead midway through the first half but couldn't put MVSU away before the break. The Delta Devils stayed in the contest on the strength of their 3-point shooting. Valley was 5-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half. Meanwhile, Washington didn't convert a 3-pointer in the half, going 0-for-6. Washington had 16 turnovers on the night and finished just 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
The Delta Devils slowly closed the deficit and a pair of 3-pointers from Daniel Hurtt helped Valley close the gap to 39-35 at the half.
After a quick start to the second half from the Huskies, MVSU erased a 10-point deficit in the blink of an eye. Simmons converted a four-point play after being fouled by Washington's Darin Johnson. A pair of free throws from Anthony McDonald closed the gap to 54-50 before MVSU tied the game.
McDonald paced Valley with 19 points on 6-of-15 shot attempts while Simmons, in his first action of the season, added 16 points off the bench. James Currington chipped in 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
MVSU shot 44.1 percent but made just 12 of 24 free throw attempts.
The Delta Devils will be at Washington State on Saturday for a 7 p.m. CST tipoff on the Pac-12 Network.
