Here it is. The home stretch.

In the marathon that is the Pac-10 season, the Huskies have been more than a couple minutes behind the leaders at the last time check.

Now is the time to sprint.

Jon Brockman is sprinting. If it can keep up with its captain, Washington looks as though it'll be in good shape.

The power forward shows little mercy on his own teammates while hunting for loose rebounds and is less friendly to his opponents. Coach Lorenzo Romar calls him one of the best leaders he's ever been around.

Not even Brandon Roy — who has achieved almost mythical status on Montlake — was this special as a sophomore.

The time to make up ground, the time to make the push is now. No more collapses down the stretch. No more positive results slipping through the cracks.

The turnaround started last night in a gut-check win over Cal.

The Golden Bears came into the game on a four-game losing streak. In an effort to keep their own fading tournament hopes alive, they dug their claws in deep, not going down without a fight.

They hung around like the freshman 15 you've been trying to lose all these years.

But this time Washington was poised for the finish.

Make no mistake, Justin Dentmon wasn't going to miss any free throws this time.

The Huskies got the stops when they needed, avoided the defensive lapses, kept the visitors from making any runs — they competed like winners in the final minutes.

There was a visible change in the Dawgs' attitude last night. Early mistakes were made out of active efforts; the Huskies were the clear aggressors — dominating the boards and the paint. There was more energy, more excitement. They looked as though they were enjoying themselves more than any game we've seen recently.

Oh, and whenever they needed a big play, Brockman was there. At one point he had more rebounds than the entire Cal team — in the second half!

It's impossible for his teammates not to follow his relentless leadership. Look at Artem Wallace; that career game against Arizona was no garbage-time fluke.

People wondering why Spencer Hawes isn't starting are beginning to bite their tongues. If you weren't paying attention, you could easily mistake the toughness and grit from Wallace as that of his bruising frontcourt teammate.

Even in a game that many fans seemed uninterested in until the closing minutes, Washington showed that at home, they'd give anyone a battle.

But as we step back, this game was a must. To be taken seriously as contenders for any tournament bid, Washington needed to take care of a floundering Cal team at home.

Of the five remaining home games, on paper this was the easiest — just so you know, Stanford, WSU, USC and UCLA (all teams currently ranked in the Associated Press top 25) are coming to town later.

It is still just one team that Washington had to pass on its sprint to the finish.

Finally removed from the conference's eighth place, the Dawgs must maintain; the team must find their stride as the finish line nears.

The Huskies don't need to break the tape, but they do need to finish strong.

Reach columnist Joshua Mayers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.