Title out of reach

PULLMAN – The superior defense that usually belongs to the Cougars instead came from the visitors. The second-half spurt that has carried the Cougars in many games buried them in this one.

In the end, the Pac-10 basketball title that Washington State hoped could be partially theirs now belongs solely to UCLA.

The Bruins beat the Cougars at their game Thursday night on Friel Court, locking down the WSU offense and dicing up the WSU defense for much of the second half. In doing so, No. 2 UCLA (26-3, 15-2 Pac-10) earned a 53-45 win and the outright conference championship.

“That’s the difference between a championship team right there and where we’re at,” Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. “They exploited us and I hope we’ll learn from it because that was a tournament-type of game. … They out-toughed us.”

Behind a sold-out crowd of 11,618, the 13th-ranked Cougars managed to hang with UCLA for the first half, grabbing a late 23-22 lead going into the break.

But in the early minutes of the second, when WSU (23-6, 12-5) has taken over one game after another this season, it was UCLA doing the damage. The Bruins started out on a 9-0 run and hit 12 of their first 15 shots in the second half. WSU, meanwhile, missed 11 of its first 15 looks, and in that stretch the visitors took a lead that WSU never eliminated.

“What we want to do coming out of the half is get scores and stops, and pretty much the opposite happened,” said junior Robbie Cowgill, who was one of three Cougars in double figures. “I don’t think we can question our heart. We played really hard and our team wanted it. We just had too many breakdowns defensively.”

UCLA did a masterful job of eliminating WSU’s outside threats, blanketing Derrick Low and Daven Harmeling all night. As a result, the Cougars ended up putting their offense in the hands of low post players such as Cowgill and Aron Baynes. Each scored 10 points, and point guard Kyle Weaver notched a game-high 14.

But for the most part, the Cougars were out of the usual rhythm that has made them effective this season. On the night, WSU hit just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc, and Low scored just two points, matching his lowest offensive output this season.

The Cougars closed the gap to four points late, but Mac Hopson missed an open 3-pointer and on a later possession both Cowgill and Baynes couldn’t get the ball in underneath, allowing UCLA to close the contest out at the free-throw line.

The Cougars will have to win Saturday against USC to maintain their hold on the No. 2 seed in next week’s Pac-10 tournament. A loss would give the Trojans that spot, and bump WSU down to third.

WSU has some physical wounds to lick before the regular-season finale as well. At different points in the game, Ivory Clark, Weaver and Cowgill all needed the trainer’s attention, and although all three returned to the game at a later point it was clear after the fact that the Cougars had expended a lot of effort in attempting to stay in the conference race.

“We knew coming in it wasn’t going to be easy,” Weaver said. “They’re not No. 2 in the nation for nothing. It didn’t help that we hurt ourselves tonight.”

Notes

WSU turned the ball over 14 times, including 10 in the first 14 minutes. … For UCLA, Josh Shipp had 12 points, but it was Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half, doing the most damage to WSU’s chances.

UCLA 53, WSU 45

Percentages: FG .512, FT .583. 3-Point Goals: 2-13, .154 (Afflalo 2-6, Roll 0-1, Collison 0-3, Shipp 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 5 (Mata 2, Mabah a Moute, Aboya, Roll). Turnovers: 11 (Shipp 4, Mbah a Moute 3, Collison 2, Mata, Aboya). Steals: 5 (Collison 2, Shipp, Afflalo, Aboya). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .375, FT .889. 3-Point Goals: 1-10, .100 (Harmeling 1-2, Rochestie 0-1, Weaver 0-1, Hopson 0-2, Low 0-4). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cowgill, Weaver, Clark). Turnovers: 14 (Weaver 4, Cowgill 3, Low 2, Harmeling 2, Baynes, Rochestie, Hopson). Steals: 6 (Weaver 3, Cowgill, Low, Rochestie). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime– Washington State 23, UCLA 22. A–11,618.