Washington State hung with the first-place team in the WCC, the Santa Clara Broncos, but eventually lost a barnburner, 96-92. The Cougs fell to 11-15 overall and 6-7 in the WCC, and the dream of the fourth
seed in the WCC Tournament now seems out of reach.
After a gut-wrenching loss to the Beavers on Wednesday, Washington State looked to get back on track. That phrase – “get back on track” – has been uttered far too often this season.
Rocking their Sonics-inspired throwbacks, WSU was able to match Santa Clara’s shot-making in the early going.
After a pair of Ri Vavers free throws, the Cougs led 19–18 with 12:00 to go in the half. Adria Rodriguez then had a nice block and pushed in transition to start a 5–0 run.
Okafor and Hildebrandt both picked up two fouls in the first eight minutes, a huge concern for David Riley with Emmanuel Ugbo still out serving a suspension.
A pair of Parker Gerrits steals helped WSU pull out to a 29-24 lead with 9:00 to go in the first. Some nice defense led to quality looks in transition.
WSU had five steals and only three turnovers, a huge reason they carried a 32-27 lead at the under-8 media timeout.
Santa Clara loves to shoot the three, and arguably WSU’s biggest weakness is guarding the perimeter, so unsurprisingly the Broncos were 5-of-10 from behind the arc. It was 39–39 at the under-4.
Glass hit a three, but the Cougars didn’t get back as the first half expired and allowed an awful bucket, sending the game into halftime knotted at 49-49. WSU was shooting 60%, but Santa Clara was shooting 58%. WSU went 8-of-13 from three.
A couple of ugly possessions for WSU to start the half, something we didn’t see in the first half.
Santa Clara’s defense stepped up, and WSU looked shaky, but it was only 58-54 Santa Clara. The Cougs finally missed some threes, but Glass hit his fourth triple to help stymie the SC run.
Santa Clara then exploded, making seven of seven shots, and went up 70–60. Lazy passing and defense from the Cougs proved costly.
The Cougs were down 74–64 with 8:58 to go, but they were in the bonus the rest of the way, and Santa Clara’s leading scorer on the night, Graves, went to the bench with a limp.
Unfortunately, Graves came back and continued to punish the Cougs.
Yalaho made a pair of threes, and a pair of Morton free throws made it 83–79 with 5:00 to go, which is about where it stayed.
The Cougs were battling but could never come up with a stop. It was 92–88 with 1:40 remaining.
Glass got two chances to cut the game to one point, but one of Ace’s threes rimmed out, and the second, on the fast break, was tipped.
It was a really hard-fought game from the Cougs, but ultimately they just gave up too many points. Santa Clara’s Allen Graves, who averages 10 points per game, scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Some of them were open threes, but he also went 9-of-10 from the line, despite being a 67% free-throw shooter this season.
The Cougs finished 54% from the floor and 52% from three, but Santa Clara shot 56% overall. You can see why Santa Clara is in first place in the conference, but WSU also could have executed better in the second half.
Adria Rodriguez continues to be a jack of all trades, finally showcasing some confidence on offense, on top of elite defense and passing. Rodriguez scored 10 points which included a strong reverse layup and a powerful fast break dunk, on top of 4 assists and a steal.
WSU only committed 13 turnovers (not bad for them), but the Broncos turned those into 19 points. WSU also out rebounded Santa Clara, 33–28.
At the end of the day, Santa Clara just showcased why it was the better team, making the big shots at the right time. It was the second heartbreaker of the week for WSU, which had a chance to firmly position itself for the fourth seed — but first blew a 17-point lead to Oregon State on Wednesday, then came up just a few stops short against the first-place team on Saturday.
The Cougs don’t feel like they are that far away from winning some of these games, but now they head to Spokane to face the Zags, and the road doesn’t wont any easier after that.
WSU will travel up to the McCarthey Athletic Center next Tuesday night, to take on No. 6 Gonzaga (for now) at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
