Roy Leads Washington Over Cal

Last spring, Brandon Roy decided to delay potential NBA millions and return to Washington for his senior season.

Nice call.

Roy made another strong case for player of the year in the Pacific 10 Conference by scoring 19 of his 27 points in the second half Sunday night to lead No. 17-ranked Washington into a second-place tie in the conference with a 73-62 win over California.

“When I was dreaming, this is exactly what I dreamed about -- but it’s tough to accomplish these things,” Roy said after his ninth consecutive game with at least 20 points led the Huskies to their sixth win in a row.

Playing in his last home game, Roy was nine for 13 from the field, seven for nine in the second half, as Washington (22-5 overall, 11-5 in Pac-10 play) avenged a January loss to the Bears by breaking open a rugged game midway through the second half.

He also held Ayinde Ubaka to six points, the first time in 15 games the Bear guard had not reached double figures.

At the end, Roy hugged each coach and teammate.

The Huskies and Bears (17-8, 11-5) are tied for second, one game behind UCLA with two regular-season games remaining. Cal plays host to UCLA on Thursday and Washington is at ninth-place Arizona State.

“To be this close to the Pac-10 championship and still get some accolades for me, that’s special,” Roy said.

Roy, who had a 19.7-point average going into the game, eventually took control of the foul-filled contest that featured him and Cal’s Leon Powe, the conference scoring leader with a 20.3-point average.

“They are both great players,” Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “But I disagree with those who say this was a showdown between Brandon and Leon Powe for player of the year.

“Try to find someone else in a league, anywhere, who is in the top 10 in 10 of 13 categories” as Roy is.

Powe began the weekend as one of only two players in NCAA Division I averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.

He scored 14 points and had eight rebounds but sat out the last 5 minutes 34 seconds of the first half because of two fouls. He took only seven shots -- four below his season average.

Coach Ben Braun refused to let Powe speak to the media afterward. Braun seemed dismayed by some offensive fouls called on Powe.

When asked if Powe should have had the ball more, Braun said, “He’d have fouled out a long time ago if he got more touches, probably.”