Conference Win Chances Lookin’ Dim

Scoot over, Tom Barnes.

Make room, Paddy Buck.

You old Washington State Cougars of 1911 - Ralph Lowery, Charlie Knight, Heinie Rogers and the rest - you may be getting some company.

It has been 89 years since a WSU basketball team has failed to win at least one conference game, in whatever conference it happened to be in at the time. In 1911, it was the Northwest Conference, and the perk of making road trips in those days was getting all those frequent flivver miles.

The Cougars of ‘11 were 0-10 in the Northwest, their average margin of loss being a gaudy 15 points. It might have been worse, but in those days you getting the ladder to fetch the ball out of the basket tended to cut into the fast-break pace.

In any case, it’s not as if what the Cougs are going through this season is unprecedented.

But it is beginning to look inevitable.

Saturday’s lowdown showdown with rival - and fellow Pac-10 bottom feeder - Washington looked to be the Cougars’ best hope, if not their last one, to break into the win column. Like the Cougs, the Huskies have been a little too beat up - physically and psychologically - and a little too beatable.

But in the wake of two straight trips to the NCAAs, a few of the Huskies holdovers still haven’t forgotten how to win. It’s not certain these Cougs could spell it if you spotted them the “W” and the “I.”

Which, in effect, the Huskies did before pulling out a 74-68 overtime victory to christen Friel Court’s new parquet floor - a pretty, worthy upgrade for Wazzu, even if at the moment it seems like taking your car in for detailing before the demolition derby.

The entertainment value was probably a cut above what you might expect from teams with a combined record of 12-25 - something UW coach Bob Bender felt necessary to point out.

“I’m proud of the fact these two teams made this game what it should be,” he said. “It says a lot about the resiliency of kids, and their ability to do something others might not think they’re capable of. We know we’re not battling at the top of the standings, but it shows that kids don’t give up on things.”

Give up? Heck, the Cougars haven’t moved off this formula since January dawned. Unsightly blowout one game, one-that-got-away molar-gnasher the next.

Only the close ones don’t just get away.

The Cougars punt them wildly, swooning at the least opportune moment. So desperately and valiantly do they struggle to put themselves in a position to win that the final stroke of actually winning becomes overwhelming.

You can imagine Regis asking them “What’s your favorite color?” as the million-dollar question and these Cougs blurting out “Purple!” And then sticking with it as their final answer.

Yes, the Cougars did come up with one particularly clutch moment - Jan-Michael Thomas’ 25-foot 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime and had Bender shivering with memories of how the Huskies lost their game with WSU in Spokane last season.

But it came to that because the Cougs - after surging from 12 points down to take a 54-52 lead - turned the ball over three straight trips down the floor instead of seizing the moment. And it went for naught because after taking a 65-62 lead in the extra period, their offense went in the tank. There was the wild drive by David Adams that resulted in a charging foul, the lane violation by Tyrone Evans that gave UW an extra free throw attempt, the misbegotten possession that left a reluctant Cedric Clark to hoist a no-hoper at the shot-clock buzzer.

This time, it even spread to the coaching staff - Paul Graham taking one too many timeouts with barely a second left and absorbing a technical foul that cost the Cougs even a desperation heave at salvation. “It happens,” Graham shrugged. “It happens all the time.” Well, that’s encouraging. Are those assistants who traipse down the scorer’s table during every timeout asking for out-of-town scores, or what?

The Cougars’ relentless black cloud showed up at this game in the form of an ankle injury that hobbled leading scorer Chris Crosby to just 18 minutes and one point. Yet it only went to show how much more vital Eddie Miller (23 points) and Mike Bush (19 points, 12 rebounds) can and should be to the offense.

Probably more devastating was the sudden transformation of Husky scoring leader Deon Luton - who went from typically pitiful road performer to Saturday Superman.

Luton, a 6-foot-5 senior, has been UW’s leading scorer in every home game - but, until Saturday, in none of the Huskies’ road games. He averages 21 points a game at KeyArena, 10.9 out of town. His 3-point shooting drops off 22 percent; his impact, about 100 percent.

So, of course, he lights up the Cougars - and Bush, their best defender - for 26 points.

“I couldn’t get him out of his comfort zone,” said Bush, who accomplished everything else Saturday. “He was just relaxed, he wasn’t pressing anything.”

Not pressing comes easier, perhaps, without that big zero camped on your shoulders. The Huskies have had their breakthroughs - against UCLA at home and Cal last week on the road. The Cougars are still searching.

“Once you get down, you think there’s no end to it,” said Luton, whose team endured a five-game losing streak. “You get in a close game and some things go wrong and you just don’t pull it off. Washington State played great. They’re right there at the hump and they’re trying to get over it. If they played a little harder at the beginning, things will go better for them.”

Man, a pep talk from the Purple. Can things get any more dire for WSU?

“You deal with it,” offered Bender. “You don’t dwell on it, but it’s something you never really escape until you start winning again. You only have X amount of opportunities. It’s like a clock ticking down. “You don’t make a bigger problem for yourself, but at the same time we all know when we’re behind the eight ball.”

Or the 89-year-old ball, if you prefer.