Before making the trip to northern California, Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar said the two games against Stanford and California were incredibly important to his team’s season.

After falling to the Golden Bears (11-6 overall, 3-2 Pac-10) 77-69 in overtime Saturday, that very important road trip ended up adding two games into the loss column, and changed the dynamic of a season that once looked like a lock for the NCAA tournament.

“It’s starting to get kind of frustrating,” sophomore Justin Dentmon told the Associated Press. “You get to a point where you just get tired of it. We need to pull together and everybody needs to be tired of it, just be tired of losing.”

It was Dentmon who had an opportunity to end the season-long road losing streak on the free throw line.

With eight seconds remaining in regulation, Washington (11-6 overall, 1-5 Pac-10) trailed by one. Dentmon drove the length of the court and put up a wild shot that missed the mark. He was able to snag the rebound though, and the sophomore guard was fouled on his put-back.

He missed the first of two, but hit the second to send the game into overtime.

Despite how tight the game had been to that point, California was the team that came out ready to win in the extra period. In the five-minute overtime, the Bears outscored Washington 10-2, with Spencer Hawes knocking down Washington’s only bucket.

“Cal just came out tonight and out scrapped us and that was the difference in the game,” Romar told the AP. “For some reason, we didn’t seem to have our legs or seem to have a lot of emotion.”

One area where the Huskies’ particularly lagged was on the boards. In their previous 16 games, the Huskies had out-rebounded their opponents every time. However, on that night, California pulled down 43 rebounds to the Huskies’ 34.

Cal freshman Ryan Anderson led the way for his team with 14 rebounds — which along with his 18 points gave him a double-double. It was the team’s first rebounding edge since losing center DeVon Hardin to injury.

Not one Washington player hit double digits in boards. Dentmon was the leader with nine, along with 12 points and four assists.

Noticeably missing in the team’s loss were the two big men, Hawes and sophomore Jon Brockman.

Hawes, still apparently suffering from a nagging case of the flu, made 6-of-12 shooting for 13 points and had just five rebounds.

Brockman, two days after amassing 23 points and 10 boards against Stanford, came up with only 11 and six, respectively, on Saturday.

Some of the team’s problems were the result of an inability to score at the end of the game for the second time in a row. Against Stanford it was a drought lasting 4:17 that allowed the Cardinal to climb back into the game. Against California, the Huskies let four minutes and 11 seconds drain off the clock before Hawes hit their only basket.

“We just need to get our work done earlier so it’s not close at the end,” Brockman told the AP. “And if it is a close game, we have to finish.”

Reach reporter Justin Chartrey at justinchartrey@thedaily.washington.edu.