Lorenzo Romar knew this day was coming.
"One day, they're going to beat us," the former Washington men's basketball coach who also starred on the court with the Huskies said before his departure in 2017. "Streaks can't go on forever and at some point, we're going to lose to Seattle U.
"I just don't want to be around to see it."
Sure enough, Washington's 19-game winning streak in the neighborhood rivalry came crashing to an end Monday night when Seattle U unleashed decades worths of frustration and claimed a 79-70 victory in the 40th meeting between the teams.
It was SU's first win in the series since Nov. 28, 1976 and at the end, the Redhawks gathered in a corner of Alaska Airlines Arena to celebrate with their fans.
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe Moncrieffe had 23 points and 16 rebounds - both game highs - while John Christofilis scored 21 points and Houran Dan 10 for SU (5-8).
The Huskies' flat performance, especially in the first 25 minutes, was a bit shocking considering they played their best game of the season five days earlier while claiming an 89-73 rout against cross-state rival Washington State.
Washington, which also toppled Eastern Washington 87-69 on Dec. 10, was looking to for its third straight win against an in-state opponent.
Seattle U entered Monday's matchup with consecutive losses and was 2-8 against Division I teams.
However, none of that mattered when UW and SU met at Alaska Airlines Arena.
At the start, the Redhawks held the Huskies to 1-for-8 shooting and led 16-3 after a little more than seven minutes.
Midway through the first half, SU led 21-9 while UW converted 4 of 13 shots, including 0 for six on 3-pointers and 1 for 6 on free throws.
With the exception of standout forward Great Osobor, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds despite constant double teams, the Huskies had trouble generating points.
Meanwhile, the Redhawks thrilled their supporters with a handful of highlights, including an alley-oop deliver between Paris Dawson and high-flying Maleek Gomma, which ended with the former flushing an crowd-pleasing dunk for a 34-21 lead with 2:40 left.
Soon after, Brayden Maldonado sank a layup that extended SU's advantage to 38-23 at halftime.
The Redhawks looked as if they delivered a knockout when Moncrieffe secured an offensive rebound and hammered a dunk for a 46-28 lead.
Minutes later, the fifth-year SU forward drove down the paint for a layup and a 50-28 lead with 15:32 left.
However, Zoom Diallo, who came off the bench and scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, took control of the game and exploited 1-on-1 matchups that allowed Washington to pull within 60-49 with 7:17 left.
The Huskies cut it to 73-63 after backup forward Christian King drained a three-pointer with 1:38 remaining.
Seattle U, which canned 29 of 32 free throws, salted the game away with six shots at the foul line in the final seconds.
Led by Tyler Harris, who had 20 points, UW shot 42.1% from the field and 69.6% (16 of 23) on free throws.
Washington wraps up its nonconference games on Saturday against NJIT.