Sweet sweep
TUCSON, Ariz. – Kyle Weaver wrapped his long arms around Daven Harmeling and whispered a word of thanks into his teammate’s left ear.
Thirteen-point-four seconds still remained, but it was clear that it wasn’t going to matter. Washington State wasn’t about to let another lead slip away.
Harmeling, getting a kick-out from Weaver, had just knocked down a 3-pointer to give WSU a five-point lead, and a Harmeling layup and free throw a few seconds later iced a 72-66 victory that stunned a once-boisterous McKale Center crowd and the Arizona Wildcats.
In the process, the No. 18 Cougars (18-4, 7-3 Pac-10) earned their first regular-season sweep of Arizona since 1983 and they proved again that no matter how talented the opponent, this gutsy group isn’t about to let what should happen on paper dictate what does happen in reality.
“Obviously, they have McDonald’s All-Americans and all that and we’re just some average guys,” said senior Ivory Clark, the offensive star with 18 points. “You’d never have thought that we’d beat Arizona twice. But anything happens when we’re an underdog and we play as hard as we play. Anything’s possible.”
No. 20 Arizona (14-7, 5-5) was coming off of an embarrassing loss to North Carolina, and the home crowd of 13,922 attempted to will its team back into the win column. But every time the Wildcats made a run at the Cougars, the visitors responded. Down 17-10 in the first half, WSU went on an 11-3 run. Seeing a second-half lead turn into a 57-56 deficit, WSU went on an 8-0 run.
When the score got close in the final minute, Weaver took control, driving to the basket before finding Harmeling open on the outside for his 3-pointer.
“Whatever questions you have,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said, shaking his head, “they just did a great job and finished the job by knocking down shots.”
For Harmeling, the game-clinching points stand as a measure of personal redemption. After hitting big shots in a long list of games this season, the sophomore watched from the bench Saturday as the Cougars blew a late lead in regulation to Oregon. This time, Harmeling was on the court and was again the one striking a crucial blow.
“We had a heartbreaking loss against Oregon that was real controversial at the end and I didn’t know how we would respond,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “I knew that Arizona obviously was coming off of a tough loss and (it) is such a storied program. For us to come in here and play that way and handle some adversity with the crowd and some foul trouble, I was really proud of our guys.”
Harmeling wasn’t the only Cougar making a shot in the clutch. The Cougars made 50.9 percent of their attempts from the field and 7 of 14 shots from 3-point range.
As a result, it didn’t matter that Arizona was dominant on the interior, getting an unusual number of easy looks against the often-stingy WSU defense. In the first half, Arizona had 22 points in the paint to WSU’s two, and although both teams scored 10 inside in the second half, the Wildcats drew a number of fouls to get to the free-throw line.
Arizona freshman Chase Budinger, surprisingly quiet in the teams’ first matchup in Pullman this season, scored a game-high 19 points and point guard Mustafa Shakur scored 11 of his 13 points in the final 10 minutes.
“We didn’t succumb,” Bennett said. “We could have easily buckled and it probably would have been over, but we didn’t and we haven’t so far yet this year. … I keep telling these guys, you’re representing a lot of things to a lot of people in the Washington State or Cougar nation, Cougar family. These guys just have something about them. They’re a bunch of guys who believe and maybe they don’t come from the Cadillac programs or are the most talented guys, but the beauty of all that stuff is when the ball gets tipped up it doesn’t matter what it says on the front of your jersey or what your accolades were. It’s about a collective unit trying to do something special.”