Cougars can’t fit in a win

PALO ALTO, Calif. – There’s no sense of panic, even with their last win now 20 days in the rear-view mirror.

But with every game the Cougars lose, they find themselves falling far behind in the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball standings.

Thursday night marked loss No. 5 in the current streak, a 69-59 defeat at the hands of Stanford (9-7, 5-3 Pac-10) in Maples Pavilion. But it wasn’t so much the opponent, or the 6,407 hostile fans on hand, that is causing Washington State problems these days.

Rather, it’s an identity crisis.

Head coach Dick Bennett tried playing with a small lineup in the first half, and the results were anything but grand. The Cardinal pounded the ball inside to all-conference power forward Matt Haryasz, who responded with easy buckets against the smaller Cougars.

Down 11 points at halftime, Bennett took one of his three guards off the floor in favor of a big man. But in plugging one leak the Cougars sprung another, turning the ball over nine times without the extra ballhandler on the floor.

Big or small, WSU (9-8, 2-6) has problems.

“You’ve got to give and take with your lineup,” forward Robbie Cowgill said. “So we’re still trying to find something that works on both ends, sort of a happy medium.”

Cowgill has the height and the mobility to allow WSU to play with him at center – as was the case in the first half. But the sophomore’s lack of bulk, netting just one rebound in 37 minutes, may mean Bennett can’t afford to play him alone in the paint.

“We are outmanned substantially every time we step on the floor, either by size or experience,” Bennett said, turning his attention to the second-half woes, where WSU made a game of it but couldn’t get a momentum-turning bucket. “We’re just not capable of making as many errors as we do. Because we actually played hard and played reasonably well, particularly in the second half. But nine turnovers in the second half of a game like this are just simply insurmountable.”

WSU’s lone lead came when Caleb Forrest hit the game’s first basket. Thereafter it was all Haryasz, who totaled 13 points by halftime and 22 in total, both game highs. When WSU twice made it a one-possession game in the second half, Haryasz responded, once with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer, then again later with a layup.

“We let Haryasz get big bucket after big bucket when we needed stops,” Cowgill said. “He gets where all he has to do is catch it and put it in.”

On offense, the Cougars continue to get the bulk of their scoring from the perimeter. Josh Akognon (15 points) led the team in scoring for the fifth time in the six games without injured guard Derrick Low, and Kyle Weaver had 14.

Cowgill had 11 and Ivory Clark nine, but Clark also had five of the nine second-half turnovers, including three in a span of less than 3 minutes midway through the half.

“We beat ourselves most of the time,” Weaver said. “It’s not like it’s something we can’t overcome. It’s small things that we need to fix and once we get those things going, it won’t be so bad. Now it looks bad.”

Notes

Rodney Edgerson did not make the trip to California after his back problems flared up again during the week. WSU only brought 11 players, with Steve Campbell, the lone walk-on, joining the 10 healthy scholarship players. … The Cardinal hit 6 of 6 free throws in the final 40 seconds to ice the game.

Stanford 69, Washington St. 59

Percentages: FG .460, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 5-10, .500 (Akognon 4-8, Clark 1-1, Green 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 6 (Forrest 2, Weaver, Cowgill, Baynes, Clark). Turnovers: 14 (Clark 5, Weaver 3, Cowgill 2, Forrest, Akognon, Henry, TEAM). Steals: 4 (Weaver 2, Cowgill, Green). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .460, FT .692. 3-Point Goals: 5-14, .357 (Haryasz 1-1, Hill 1-1, Haas 1-1, Grunfeld 1-3, Hernandez 1-4, Johnson 0-1, Goods 0-1, Morris 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Haryasz 2, Morris). Turnovers: 10 (Grunfeld 3, Johnson 2, Finger, Haryasz, Hernandez, Morris, Prowitt). Steals: 4 (Hernandez 3, Johnson). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Stanford 38, Washington State 37. A–6,407.