UW freshman guard Isaiah Thomas was on the bench at the start of the Cleveland State game because he was late -- just barely -- joining his teammates on the court for pregame warmups.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar started Venoy Overton instead.

"Isaiah was just a couple of minutes late," Romar explained after the game.

However, Thomas was sent onto the court after three minutes and eight seconds. He ended the night back in Romar's good graces with eight points, two rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes.

"That’s a team rule," Thomas said. "(I was) exactly one minute late. ... We go out to the court as a team at 6. I was getting my ankles taped. It was my fault. I take the blame for it."

Thomas was asked when was the last time he started a game on the bench.

"Never," he said. "It felt weird, but we got the win. That’s the important part."

Thomas contributed the key play in that win, hitting a three-pointer from the corner at the same time Jon Brockman was being fouled under the basket. The result was a five-point play that seemed to settle the issue.

"I have confidence in my shot," he said. "I was open and I shot it. It was a good pass from (Joe Wolfinger.) … That was a big shot."

Both teams are now 1-1.

And not surprisingly, the roller-coaster nature of the game -- Huskies fast start, second half swoon and late fast finish -- was the main topic after the game.

“I thought we definitely made progress tonight – not only from the Portland (loss on Saturday), but from the Western Washington exhibition,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We guarded in the first half very well, and I thought we played as a team with energy. I thought we shared the ball. I thought we were very efficient. In the second half, we came out flat. It’s just something we have got to be able to solve, coming out in the second half and maintaining the intensity we had in the first half.”

“You get a 22 point-lead, you get real comfortable and you think it’s going to be the same as the first half way,” senior Jon Brockman said. “We were victims of that, and we can’t let that happen. When we play against Kansas, we’re not going to get a second chance like that.”

Jon Brockman had 23 points and 13 rebounds, both game highs. Quincy Pondexter contributed to the big first half with 13 points, though he added only two in the second. Justin Holiday provided defense, energy and a career-high 11 rebounds. Joe Wolfinger had 12 points and five rebounds, and he hit a late three-pointer that was a dagger to any remaining CSU hopes.

Guard Cedric Jackson led the Vikings with 20 points.

“I think this Washington team plays defense really hard, and that is one of their strengths,” CSU coach Gary Waters said. “The big guy (Brockman) is a man amongst boys.”

The game turned for the last time on a 5-point play 10 minutes from the end. With the lead down to five, freshman Isaiah Thomas nailed a three-pointer from the corner. As the ball sailed toward the hoop, Brockman was fouled. He went to the line adding two free throws that made it a five-point play and bought the Huskies a little breathing room at 63-53.

“I have confidence in my shot,” Thomas said. “I was open, and I shot it.”

The Huskies return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday, hosting Florida International the second game of this CBE regional. Regardless of the result of that game, these evolving Huskies will advance to Kansas City, Mo., where they hope to put their Tuesday survival experience to use against the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks in a semifinal game Monday.

The Huskies move to 1-1 on the season.

It was a bit of a carnival thrill ride in the middle, but it ended up as a pretty solid win against a team that's probably a lot better than their name recognition.

As mentioned this morning, these guys beat the Oakland team that beat Oregon last night.

Jon Brockman led UW with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

I'll be back later with some notes, quotes and final stats.

* A nice Thomas bucket on a drive, a Wolfinger 3, more Brockman dirty work around the basket, and this one seems settled ... again.

* The Huskies seem to have finally remembered that they have that Brockman guy on the roster, and he's helped them cool the Cleveland State run. But there's a game here, whereas at halftime this thing seemed settled.

Isaiah Thomas has only five points, but he drilled a big three from the corner that could turn out to be the one that turned this back toward UW.

* Remember that 22 point halftime lead? That's long gone. It looks like the teams have changed uniforms and just about everything has reversed. I can't remember Jon Brockman going this deep into a half with no points and no rebounds. And they need to get him back in or this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Washington has dominated in just about every way, and looks like a very different team from that pratfall of an opener at Portland.

Quincy Pondexter had one of those halves that get folks so excited about his potential, scoring 13 points, hustling and really leading the team especially with Brockman on the bench.

Brockman has 15 and 10 in 13 minutes.

The Huskies have outrebounded SCU 36-16 and limited them to 23.7 percent shooting.

Joe Wolfinger, who's sticking around the bucket much more this season, added nine -- none on 3's.

Isaiah Thomas was 0-for-6 and got a scolding from Romar after forcing a drive in the final seconds of the half.

* Huskies up 14-8 with 11:52 left in the first half.

Thomas came in about three minutes into the game, and he seems physically fine.

Huskies have five turnovers already, but they're playing hard.

Lots of empty seats in the upper level.

Tipoff: The Huskies have made an unexpected change to the starting lineup, moving in Venoy Overton in place of Isaiah Thomas.

Coach Lorenzo Romar had praised Overton's play in the opener against Portland. However, Romar always likes to see trends, not individual performances, before making moves. In fact, he seemed to scoff at the idea of moving Overton into the lineup on the basis of one performance.

Obviously, we'll get his thinking after the game.

5:55: A handful of Huskies and a lot of Cleveland State Vikings are on the court warming up about an hour from tipoff.

I'll pop in with any pregame news, then try to give some running-blog updates through the game, and come back after with notes and quotes.

As mentioned in this morning's newspaper, this game is part of the College Basketball Experience Classic. And the tournament logo, along with the logo of a couple of sponsors have been added to the Hec Ed court.

There is also a special game program, featuring one player from each of the 12 participating teams. UW is represented by senior guard Justin Dentmon

There's no TV, but the game is on KJR, 950-AM.

As dvast8r points out below, UW is down to it's final days of its name-the-mascot contest.

Final names are Dubs, Spirit and Sundodger.

And as dvasta8r points out, it's gotta be Sundodger, right? I mean, UW gave away that great name once before. But not twice, eh?

Info at GoDawgs.com

WSU coach Paul Wulff and UW coach Ty Willingham agreed on today's Pac-10 football coaches conference call that if all things were equal they prefer the tradition of playing the Apple Cup as the final game of the regular season.

That won't be the case this season, as WSU ends up with a 13th game in Hawaii -- as UW did last year -- while the Huskies' odd three-bye season ends Dec. 7 with a visit to California.

Both coaches admit that might become the new reality -- especially in seasons when the game is played in Pullman. Unless the new coach disagrees, Washington likes bye weeks in the new 12-game season and one of the best ways to accomplish that would be moving the Apple Cup back a week or two. But WSU doesn't want to host the game on Thanksgiving week when students are off campus. And the idea of playing a December game on the Palouse isn't all that inviting either.

At least as of now, the Huskies are scheduled to end the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Apple Cup game. However, neither of those proposed schedules include byes, so that may not survive.

Oakland -- of Michigan -- defeated the Oregon Ducks in overtime last night on Mac Court.

It was an entertaining game, but I mention it here because Oakland is the same team that Cleveland State beat by three points in its season opener.

And I mention that because the Huskies play Cleveland State tonight at Hec Ed.

So, it's a bit of a bank shot, but maybe we'll get an early season indicator of how the Huskies stack up in relation to the Ducks this season.

UW, by the way, is favored by 7 1/2 points tonight (the same margin the UW football team is currently favored in the Apple Cup.)