A strong first half for the Washington State Cougars was ultimately erased by an ugly, foul-ridden second half as they fell to the Duquesne Dukes 72-71.
WSU (0-3) seemed on their way to their first true away victory on the east coast since 1978. With Ronnie Harrison making his debut after missing the first two games of the season, the Cougs played arguably their best first half of the season. They went into the halftime break leading 39-30, shooting 48.1% from the field and outrebounding Duquesne
(3-0) 15-14. The second half was a much different story. The Cougs got into foul trouble quickly, putting the Dukes into the bonus just a little over five minutes into the half and into the double bonus before the halfway point in the second half. They finished with 22 total personal fouls. Offensively they cooled off slightly, shooting 42.9% from the field and turned the ball over nine times over the final 20 minutes. Ultimately, the foul trouble that sent the Dukes to the line after every foul five minutes into the second half and caused WSU to play more tentatively on defense overruled the 1.14 points per possession WSU had on offense.
With under a minute to play, and the game tied at 69, Sebastian Akins drove through the Duquesne defense and made an incredible finish at the rim through traffic to put WSU in front 71-69 with 32 seconds to go. Now with a two-second difference between the shot and game clock, the Dukes needed to answer. They got their answer from Kerem Konan who drove right at big Mohammed Sankhe standing tall in the paint. Konan went up and through Sankhe for a tough finish that went in and drew a foul to send Konan to the free-throw line for a chance to put the Dukes in front with 12 seconds to play. Konan cashed the go-ahead charity stripe shot. Lazerek Houston was able to get a good look at the buzzer for the game winner, but his shot just missed.
This could have been a great early season win for WSU. Going on the road against a solid Duquesne team and a potential quad two victory down the season. Instead, it ended like so many other WSU losses over the past few years. A brutal second half that erased any good feelings of the first 20 minutes of play.
In even more unfortunate news, Harrison rerolled his ankle in his WSU debut with 3:39 to play. He was a force on the glass early, grabbing four rebounds, but slowed down as the game went on. He finished with six points, five rebounds and three turnovers.
The reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Jaylen Harrell, again led the way for WSU in points, scoring 19 on 7/10 shooting from the field and splashing a trio of threes.
WSU will come home to host Northwest University from the NAIA division at 10am on Saturday.
