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Menifield Leads Washington to Home Win over North Florida

by gohuskies.com
Nov 11, 2022

SEATTLE (AP) - True freshman Keyon Menifield made the most of his first collegiate start, scoring 21 points to help rally the Washington Huskies to a 75-67 victory over North Florida on Friday night.

"I loved the crowd tonight," said Head Coach Mike Hopkins. "I loved the Dawg Pack tonight. We had a string of plays where it was loud and we needed that."

Menifield scored 12 points in the first half but Washington trailed 34-28 at the break. His fast-break dunk off a PJ Fuller II steal ignited the crowd and pulled Washington even at 42-42 with 15:23 remaining in the game. North Florida (0-2) moved back in front and stayed there until Menifield buried a 3-pointer off a steal by PJ Fuller II to give the Huskies a 56-54 lead with 7:19 left to play.
 

The lead changed hands three times until Jamal Bey buried a 3-pointer and followed with a layup to put Washington on top for good 65-61 with 3:58 to go.

North Florida trailed 69-61 when Jose Placer and Jarius Hicklen buried back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Ospreys' deficit to two. Menifield scored in the paint with 44 seconds left to make it a two-possession game and then added two free throws 23 seconds later to preserve the win. The young guard is the first freshman to lead the Huskies in scoring since Isaiah Stewart scored 29 points in the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament.

Franck Kepnang finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies. Bey added 14 points and seven boards. Cole Bajema grabbed 11 rebounds to go with seven points.

Hicklen led the Ospreys with 19 points. Jonathan Aybar added 12 points, while Jadyn Parker and Carter Hendricksen both scored 11.

The two programs played each other for the first time. Washington improves to 2-0 for the first time since 2019-20. The Huskies are back at Alaska Airlines Arena for their next game on Monday against Utah Tech. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

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