Youthful blunders hit Cougs
EUGENE, Ore. – Six of the 10 starters on the McArthur Court floor for Oregon and Washington State University on Saturday were freshmen, so it came as no great surprise that freshmen ended up playing a pivotal role down the stretch.
As has been the case all year long for WSU, its youngsters couldn’t quite make enough positives happen at a crucial moment to claim a victory.
Down 69-66 with 4 seconds left, WSU’s Thomas Kelati inbounded the ball to freshman point guard Derrick Low, who was to return the ball to his senior teammate for one final shot. But another freshman, Daven Harmeling, misunderstood his assignment and failed to set a screen that could have freed Kelati.
That forced Low to dribble forward and launch a desperate 30-footer from the sideline, one that had no chance of going in and sealed the Cougars’ fate in another close loss.
“I was supposed to give Thomas the ball right back when he gave it to me, but I knew something was wrong when he just went to the corner,” said Low, whose Cougars have fallen by three points or less in six of their 12 losses this season. “Apparently there wasn’t a screen or something. I just had to react.”
The loss was especially painful as the Cougars (10-12, 5-8 Pacific-10 Conference) had scratched their way back after trailing the entire game. The Ducks (12-9, 4-8) never led by more than nine, but WSU trailed from the time Oregon scored its second bucket of the game and didn’t have a lead until freshman Kyle Weaver sank two free throws with 2:56 left.
Oregon retook the lead with just more than a minute to play and got a break when Jeff Varem was called for a questionable flagrant foul with 24.8 seconds left, the last of many iffy calls that went against both teams.
The Ducks proceeded to make just 1 of 4 free throws in the resulting possession, but another freshman mistake prevented WSU from tying the game thereafter. Low, who led all scorers with a career-high 19 points, spotted a wide-open Chris Schlatter underneath but threw a bounce pass instead of a chest pass, giving Oregon just enough time to recover and make a steal that led to one more free throw and the errant final shot.
“We’ve been talking to Derrick from the first day about long bounce passes,” head coach Dick Bennett said. “They’re slow. And the kid was open under the basket; he threw a bounce pass.”
Still, Bennett said he was encouraged by the way his team hung tough. Two days earlier, the Cougars turned in a shoddy effort at Oregon State and despite some defensive issues early against Oregon, his team played well enough to compete.
About four minutes into the second half, Bennett unveiled a 1-2-2 zone defense the Cougars had worked on during the week – the first zone they had played all year. But the Ducks scored 10 easy points and WSU quickly went back to man defense.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win and about five minutes before that I’m thinking let’s not get blown out down the stretch,” Bennett said. “All the sudden we just sucked it up defensively and started getting to their cutters and we kept chipping away. … I like the way we played today, but they just played a hair better.”
But before the two losses, WSU stood a half-game ahead of Oregon State and 1 1/2 ahead of Oregon in the fight for a top-eight finish and a Pac-10 tournament berth. Now, the Cougars find themselves a half-game up on the Ducks and clinging desperately to a tournament bid.
Worse news for the Cougars is on the schedule. They play their next three games at home, but the first two are against conference leaders Washington and Arizona.
“The losing,” Weaver said, pounding his stomach, “the feeling that you get, that gut feeling. … The last couple games, we needed one, maybe both. Going home and we’re playing two of the best teams in the conference – we just have to bring it. We have to give it all we got now, because it’s coming to the end.”
Notes
This was the seventh straight season WSU was swept on the road by the Oregon schools. … The Cougars were 13 of 14 from the free-throw line. … Oregon had four players in double figures, led by the 12 of Bryce Taylor and Chamberlain Oguchi. … McArthur Court was sold out for the 26th consecutive Pac-10 game, with 9,087 in attendance.