Techniques for combating high interference in a dominant interference scenario are described. A terminal may observe high interference from an interfering base station in a dominant interference scenario. In an aspect, high interference may be combated by reserving time intervals for a serving base station. The terminal may communicate with the serving base station in the reserved time intervals and may avoid high interference that may desens a receiver at the terminal. In one design, the terminal may measure received power of base stations and may report its interference condition. The serving base station may receive a report from the terminal, determine that the terminal is observing high interference, and send a reservation request to the interfering base station to reserve time intervals. The interfering base station may grant the request and return a response. The serving base station may thereafter communicate with the terminal in the reserved time intervals.