Cougars Can’t Hold On, Fall In 2ots

Any college basketball game that doesn’t start until 9 p.m. is bound to get a little crazy.

But what happened between Arizona and Washington State on Thursday night at Friel Court defies all logic.

Following one of the most bizarre regulation finishes in the history of the sport and a blown opportunity at the foul line by WSU in the final seconds of the first overtime, Damon Stoudamire loaded the 12th-ranked Wildcats on his shoulders and carried them to an unforgettable 114-111 Pacific-10 Conference win in double overtime.

Stoudamire, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored 11 of his game-high 40 points in the second extra period to extend Arizona’s winning streak over the Cougars to 20. It was the first time WSU has given up 100 or more points since a 110-102 triple-overtime loss to UCLA in 1979.

The win raised the Cats’ Pac-10 record to 12-4 and their overall mark to 22-6.

WSU, which got career-high scoring efforts from Isaac Fontaine and Mark Hendrickson, slipped to 8-7 and 14-10 and quite possibly saw its postseason tournament hopes draw a final breath.

“Very disappointed,” was the way WSU coach Kevin Eastman described his feelings after the loss. “It makes you really want to consider why you’re in the business. But I can deal with that decision personally later on. We’re going to try and regroup, but I can’t sit and tell you we will.”

Fontaine finished with 38 points and Hendrickson added 29, along with seven hard-earned rebounds. But the two were no match for Stoudamire at crunch time - which lasted the better part of 15 minutes.

The first overtime was set up by a frantic Arizona rally that brought the Wildcats back from a six-point deficit in the final 34 seconds. The Cats scored seven consecutive points to climb from 90-84 down into a 91-90 lead when Stoudamire made one of two free throws after WSU was called for a rare technical foul on its crowd.

Some of those in the noisy horde of 8,258 opted to ignore an earlier warning to stop throwing objects on the floor. And when they rained litter after Donminic Ellison was tied up without a foul call in the final 11 seconds, Stoudamire got the chance to put his team ahead.

Fontaine, who scored 25 of his points in the second half, went the length of the floor with the inbounds pass and had a chance to win it when he was fouled by Joseph Blair on a drive to the basket with 1 second remaining.

But the 6-4 sophomore watched his first free throw fall off the front of the rim before he made his second to tie it.

The Cougars also blew a splendid opportunity to win it near the end of the first overtime when Ellison bricked a pair of free throws, again with a second left.

What made the loss even more exasperating for WSU fans was the way the Cougars collapsed in the final minutes of regulation.

After falling behind 43-38 at halftime, WSU caught the Wildcats by draining three consecutive 3-pointers right after intermission. And they opened up some precious breathing space with a 10-point run that made it 59-49 with 14:04 left in the game.

They eventually built their lead to 77-63 and were ahead 89-81 with just less than 1 minute remaining.

That’s when Ray Owes buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to ignite UA’s comeback.

Stoudamire did his best to help Arizona weather WSU’s early second-half storm. But his nine consecutive points could only cut WSU’s lead to 63-58. And when the Cougars sprinted away on another 14-5 run over the next 3 minutes, the upset looked sealed.

But Arizona clawed its way back to within 79-74 on a short fallaway jumper by Michael Dickerson with 5:03 remaining, before Hendrickson scored on a putback and Ellison converted on an acrobatic drive to make it 83-74.

The first half was fast-paced and fierce, with both teams tearing at each other from suffocating man-toman defenses that made for some sloppy, but exciting, moments.

WSU jumped ahead 22-13 in the first 9 minutes, mainly on the outside shooting of Hendrickson, who nailed three consecutive 3s. Fontaine and Ellison added 3s during that run, but Arizona countered with seven unanswered points to make it 22-20.

The Wildcats’ quick comeback was built on rebounding. They abused the Cougars on the boards and allowed only three offensive rebounds.

Blair, the Cats’ 6-foot-10, 265-pound junior center, presented the biggest problem for WSU’s overmatched front line. Blair pulled down eight first-half rebounds, including six on the offensive end, and finished the half with seven points.

The Cougars did a decent job of containing Stoudamire early by running Shamon Antrum, Ellison and Chris Griffin at him. But the senior point guard still managed seven points by intermission. He was held without an assist, however.

Arizona, after catching the Cougars at 34, fashioned its halftime lead with a 9-4 run in the final 2 minutes.