Cougars Fall Flat Against Rams Veteran Colorado State Team Posts Easy Win Rams 78 Cougars 64

Washington State prides itself in being an aggressive defensive basketball team.

The Cougars got a kick right in the pride against Colorado State on Saturday.

The Rams exploited the Cougars’ over-aggressive defense with screens and backdoor cuts in a 78-64 win at the Spokane Arena.

The Rams moved to 2-0. The Cougars fell to 1-1.

“We were playing pretty good defense on the ball,” said point guard Marcus Moore. “It was the off-the-ball defense. We couldn’t keep our man and the ball in check.”

They couldn’t keep up with the slower and more methodical Rams is more like it. Colorado State shot 62 percent in the second half. Most of those shots came after the Rams worked the clock until they found an open cutter.

“I swear coach (Paul) Graham, all of our coaches, told us 101 times in practices they are going to backdoor you,” he said. “They told us. They prepared us.”

The players either didn’t listen or didn’t believe them.

“That’s a veteran team against a young team,’ said Graham. “You put (WSU’s) Kendall (Minor) in there and they reverse the ball. Kendall gets a little high, boy, the guy plants and he goes. Then there’s Kendall out there and then it dawns on him.”

“We knew they were going to be overplaying, so we knew we were going to have the backdoor,” said CSU guard Ron Grady.

Grady was the main beneficiary of those backdoor cuts and screens as he went for a game-high 25 points.

While the Rams were not having any problems scoring, the Cougars’ offense was floundering. The Cougars were within six, 65-59 with 6:33 to go. But from that point on they failed to hit a shot from the floor. They also missed plenty at the freethrow line.

“The thing we didn’t do is we didn’t make free throws,” said Graham. “Seventeen for 29 (from the stripe) just isn’t going to cut it.”

Not in game that featured 52 whistles. In fact free-throw shooting dominated the game midway through the second half. At one point in the second half seven out of nine possessions ended in free throws. The teams combined to shoot 6 of 13 from the line in that time period.

Washington State’s Eddie Miller suffered the most from the stripe. The senior, who finished with a team-high 17 points and six boards, was of 5 of 10 on free throws. Several of this misses were at the front end of crucial one-and-one situations.

Washington State also failed the pick up the rebounds it needed. The Cougars had nine second-half rebounds. They had 25 in the game. Colorado State, on the other hand, had 39 boards and 11 came off the offensive glass.

“Our ability to keep them off the offensive glass was probably the difference,” said Colorado State coach Dale Layer.

The Cougars only had one second-chance bucket. The Rams had four. And Washington State 6-foot-10 center J. Locklier had just one rebound in 30 minutes of action.

Another difference was Washington State failing to get into its offense. Moore, the point guard, finished with just five assists.

“One time down the floor he is great and the next time down the floor he just doesn’t know,” said Graham of his point guard.

The sputtering offense was not all Moore’s fault. The freshman dished plenty of passes inside for easy buckets that either Locklier couldn’t handle or couldn’t convert.

With the inside game unreliable, the Cougars went to the outside. In the first half, six of their nine field goals came from behind the arc.

Washington State built as much as a six-point lead in the first half. But through a series of backdoor cuts and putbacks the Rams tied the game at 30. Grady, who had 14 in the first half, put the Rams ahead on another backdoor cut. A couple of free throws later and the Rams had a 34-31 halftime lead.

“Against a veteran team you can’t relax,” said Graham. “Right there at the end of the half we relaxed and they took advantage of that.”

Washington State will play at Ida ho (1-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Colorado St. 78, Washington St. 64

Colorado State (2-0)-Greene 4-7 1-1 9, Patik 3-6 0-4 6, Grady 10-17 2-2 25, Palmer 2-8 5-8 10, Sivesind 2-6 8-8 12, Sanders 0-0 0-0 0, Birley 2-2 0-0 5, Harris 1-1 0-0 2, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Fisher 2-3 3-4 7, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 19-27 78.

Washington State (1-1)-Little 2-5 3-5 7, Miller 5-10 5-10 17, Locklier 2-5 1-3 5, Moore 3-8 8-11 14, Adams 4-8 0-0 11, McNair 3-6 0-0 8, Minor 0-3 0-0 0, Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Riley 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-47 17-29 64.

Halftime-Colorado State 34, Washington State 31. 3-point goals-Colorado State 5-12 (Grady 3-5, Birley 1-1, Palmer 1-4, Sivesind 0-2), Washington State 7-22 (Adams 3-7, Miller 2-5, McNair 2-5, Minor 0-2, Moore 0-3). Fouled out-Brown, Fisher, Little. Rebounds-Colorado State 39 (Greene 7), Washington State 25 (Miller 6). Assists-Colorado State 15 (Palmer 3), Washington State 11 (Moore 5). Total fouls-Colorado State 27, Washington State 25. Technicals-None. A-NA.