DREW SELLERS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM
Washington's Justin Dentmon scored 16 points in 17 minutes of playing time Saturday night in an 86-75 win over UCLA.

BY TODD DYBAS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM

Games like this, they were no sure thing the past two years.

Justin Dentmon continued to force shots, dribbling into the lane, then converged on. Dentmon would shoot it anyway, having created the situation for himself by dribbling the ball too much in the first place.

Dentmon was playing point guard, not the shooting guard position he was so effective in during high school. Dentmon was having trouble balancing his point guard responsibilities with his scoring inclination. The internal battle resulted in both portions suffering.

Dentmon's statistics during his sophomore and junior season regressed, his confidence in tow.

But in this, his senior year, Dentmon has returned to his screen-curling roots. The entrance of Isaiah Thomas has relieved Dentmon of his ball-handling responsibilities. Dentmon now circles the court, having teammates Jon Brockman and Darnell Gant picking off his would-be defender.

Much like during Saturday's game, Dentmon could have allowed the negatives to seize his spirit. Instead, he worked.

Jump shot after jump shot over the summer. He's slowed down, selectively using his one-on-one ability. Basically, he was fed up with the results of two meager seasons.

"He lost a little confidence, then stomped his foot and said, 'I want to get this right,' " Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said of Dentmon. "During the process, when things didn't go well, he could get shaken. He's matured, he's older now. That's what seniors do, they grow up."

No other time was his maturation more evident than Saturday's game against esteemed UCLA. Dentmon picked up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game. He was jettisoned to the bench, where he remained most of the first half. He picked up his fourth foul with 13:21 remaining in the second half, the Huskies in the middle of their collision with the Bruins, the score tied. The foul sent Dentmon back to the bench.

Then he was back to the court, the Huskies leading by six as the clock ticked. The senior scored 10 of his team's final 16 points. A runner in the lane, continuous clutch free throws, both defining marks of his play this season. He finished with 16 points in 17 minutes.

Dentmon checked out only physically Saturday, never mentally.

"You pick up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game, I've seen guys just go south," Romar said. "Their head's not in it. They're pouting. He stayed over there, I watched him. I glanced at him every now and then, he was so focused."

There's no other way to explain Dentmon's effectiveness once he returned. Were his brain elsewhere, lamenting a couple cheap whistles, his effectiveness would have waned. Instead, he became coach and encourager on the bench.

"I was so into the game, I even forgot I had four fouls," Dentmon said.

Dentmon has hit 21 consecutive free throws, no small feat for a team so challenged from that defining line. His late-game drives held off USC Thursday. His two late steals and subsequent free-throw conversions kept UCLA at bay Saturday. Dentmon has become the Huskies' closer.

To hear him and his coach talk about it, this success is the fruit of summer labors. Dentmon talked of all the shooting he did in preparation for this year. A question hanging over the Huskies prior to the season was their ability to shoot from the outside, unlocking the interior. Dentmon has helped quell that concern, shooting 42 percent from behind the 3-point line.

But it's been more than that for Dentmon. The careening drives after passing up teammates left people shaking their heads. Now Dentmon has fans throwing their hands in the air in joy, no longer in exasperation.

Dentmon's personal revival has coincided with the team's. Washington sits atop the Pac-10 conference, a return to his freshman season when the Huskies roamed in the top tier of the conference.

"Before the game we were talking on the bench, 'Man we've got to take advantage of this opportunity, we got it back to what it was when we were freshman,' " Brockman said. "We went through some hard times, so we've got to keep it there."

Dentmon and Brockman will finish their Washington careers with four consecutive wins over UCLA in Bank of America Arena. Dentmon was emphatic when relaying how that felt, though he could have been talking about his own senior year upswing.

"It feels GREAT," Dentmon said.

The questions now deal with just how good this team can be. After back-to-back seasons out of the NCAA tournament, Washington has positioned itself so only an epic collapse would continue that trend.

Graduating from hunter to hunted, another chapter of the season is about to begin. During it, count Dentmon among the reliable once again.

"The game was close the entire way," Romar said. "He came off that bench and almost single handily allowed us to separate ourselves."

Todd Dybas is the editor of Seattlesportsonline.com. He can be reached via e-mail at tdybas@seattlesportsonline.com