WSU lets another slip away

PULLMAN – Dick Bennett wanted to put his faith in one man when he most needed a big play.

After spending all 44 minutes and 50.3 seconds on the floor, the head coach knew Thomas Kelati had one more big play left in him.

So when Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic sank two free throws to put the Wildcats up 57-56 with 9.7 ticks left in overtime Thursday, the Washington State University Cougars didn’t take another timeout to diagram a play.

Bennett had already told his team that the basketball was to go to his senior Kelati, who had just recently become the 25th Cougars player to score 1,000 career points.

But as has been the case so often this year, a missed message or a missed assignment haunted WSU at the worst possible time.

Freshman point guard Derrick Low took the inbound pass and dribbled all the way to the 3-point line. But instead of passing off the ball to Kelati, who stood wide open in the corner waiting for a chance at a game-winning shot, Low hesitated and hoisted up a 3-point attempt.

The ball bounced off the front of the rim, hit the backboard and fell to the ground as the Cougars (10-14, 5-10 Pacific-10 Conference) lost their seventh game this season by three points or less.

“Thomas loves the baseline and he got there,” Bennett said. “He was wide open and unfortunately we did not get him the ball. We’ve had a lot of mix-ups late in the game, which would suggest inexperience. But at this point, inexperience is not, in my opinion, a valid excuse.”

But regardless of the reason, this mistake was especially painful as WSU had a chance to upset No. 9 Arizona (24-4, 14-2) for a second time this season having lost 38 consecutive games to the Wildcats before that.

WSU came out playing Arizona just as tough before 4,259 Friel Court fans as it did in the McKale Center in January.

The Cougars didn’t trail until there was 5:10 left in regulation, thanks in large part to a marvelous defensive effort by – no surprise – Kelati on Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire, who is putting up better shooting numbers than anyone in America.

Kelati had held Stoudamire to 11 points in Tucson, but this effort may have been better as Stoudamire scored just eight points, six of them from the free-throw line.

“He’s very quick,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said of Kelati’s defense. “He’s in unbelievable condition and he has great length. Forty-five minutes and I thought a couple of times he’d have to have the cardiac care unit. But as soon as a timeout was over, he came back as fresh as can be.”

Fortunately for Olson, he has more than just one star on his team. Olson got his 304th Pac-10 win – putting him in a tie with John Wooden for the most – largely because center Channing Frye made up for Stoudamire’s struggles with an 11-of-13 night from the floor for a game-high 26 points.

Frye also helped inside on defense to limit the Cougars when Arizona needed it most.

WSU didn’t score in the final 2 1/2 minutes of regulation or in the final 2 minutes of overtime, giving Arizona just enough time to first tie the game then win it in the extra session.

The Cougars will probably need two wins in their last three games to qualify for the Pac-10 tournament, and their final home game of the year is on Saturday against Arizona State.

WSU wasn’t expected to beat the Wildcats, especially with Arizona presumably seeking revenge, but a win could have helped WSU’s chances immensely.

Kelati was 2 of 8 from 3-point range Thursday night but still led the Cougars with 16 points. Low had 12 to go with five assists.

But as it prepares for ASU, WSU will have to wonder if Low could have notched a sixth, game-winning assist with one more pass.

“I did a good job of setting my man up,” Kelati said, “making him think I was going to go right off of Robbie (Cowgill’s) screen. I came back and I thought I was pretty wide open.

“(Losing close games) has been our downfall all year. I can look back over numerous games, and that’s been the story.”

Notes

Washington State freshman power forward Chris Henry is out for the season after having and emergency appendectomy Thursday. … The Cougars had guard Randy Green back, after the junior missed five games with a leg injury. He played 4 minutes.

(9) Arizona 57, Wash. St. 56 (OT)

Percentages: FG .444, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 1-9, .111 (Radenovic 1-3, Shakur 0-1, Adams 0-1, Rodgers 0-1, Stoudamire 0-3). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 4 (Frye 4). Turnovers: 21 (Frye 6, Adams 5, Radenovic 3, Stoudamire 3, Shakur 2, Rodgers 2). Steals: 8 (Radenovic 3, Frye 2, Rodgers 2, Stoudamire). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .407, FT .818. 3-Point Goals: 3-15, .200 (Kelati 2-8, Low 1-3, Harmeling 0-1, Schlatter 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 4 (Harmeling 2, Varem, Weaver). Turnovers: 17 (Low 5, Cowgill 3, Schlatter 2, Green 2, Weaver 2, Kelati, Varem, TEAM). Steals: 11 (Schlatter 4, Cowgill 3, Low 2, Kelati, Varem). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Washington State 32, Arizona 30. Regulation–Arizona 49, Washington State 49. A–4,259.