Cougars tripped up

PULLMAN – Tony Bennett will tell anyone who will listen about the fine line the Washington State Cougars walk.

The fine line between winning and losing in the Pac-10.

The ninth-ranked Cougars crossed it against California on Thursday night, dropping a 69-64 decision before a snow-limited crowd of 8,810, a majority of them students, in Beasley Coliseum.

“We can’t take anything for granted,” Bennett said. “This league is a battle. We have limitations, we have some strengths, but it’s not easy, we have to keep scrapping and fighting and learn from it.”

The lesson learned Thursday might be a costly one. The loss to the ninth-place Bears dropped WSU to 5-3 in conference (17-3 overall) and out of a tie for second place with Saturday’s opponent, Stanford.

“We’ve dodged bullets before and came out victorious,” Bennett said. “Well, today we didn’t dodge one and came out on the other side.”

Actually, more than just one.

“Ryan Anderson, Cal’s 6-foot-10 sophomore who can score out to 25 feet, rained 27 points over the Cougars’ pack defense, hitting 9 of 13 from the floor, including 5 of 7 3-pointers.

“He’s special,” Bennett said. “He’s multidimensional with that type of range. He’s added a little more of an attack off the dribble this year, he’s doing that, and they are getting him in the post.”

It was the latter spot where Anderson scored what proved to be the game-winner, a spinning layup past Robbie Cowgill with 43.7 seconds left. That gave the Bears a 65-64 lead and, after Jamal Boykin blocked Daven Harmeling’s 3-point try on the other end, Cal made four consecutive free throws to clinch it.

“Derrick Low tied his season low in points, five, with his first basket coming with 11 minutes, 57 seconds left. The senior, who came in averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game and shooting 42.6 percent from beyond the arc in Pac-10 play, was 2 of 11 overall from the floor and 0 of 9 on 3-pointers, including two in the final seconds when the Cougars trailed by three.

“It wasn’t falling for me tonight,” Low said. “A lot of them just rimmed right out, but that’s the way basketball is.”

His last one, after Cowgill had won a rebounding battle for a Low 3-point miss with less than 4 seconds left, banked in and back out.

His usual long-range running mate, Harmeling, was 1 for 5 as the Cougars, hitting 45.4 of the 3-points shots in conference coming in, were 5 of 20.

“The Cougars missed 6 of 17 free throws, including one each by Low and Kyle Weaver as WSU was trying to rally from a 61-56 deficit with less than 7 minutes left.

The Cougars actually led 56-55 when Anderson went to the bench with his fourth foul and 10:30 remaining. While he sat for 6:36, the Bears (12-7, 3-5) built a one-point lead, 61-60.

“That was huge, that was huge,” said Cal coach Ben Braun of the stretch.

Weaver, who led WSU with 15 points, was sitting for a big part of that – he was on the bench for nearly 8 minutes midway through the second half though he wasn’t in foul trouble – and Patrick Christopher, who Weaver usually guarded, took advantage to score seven consecutive points.

Despite that, WSU rallied, taking the lead when Taylor Rochestie hit two free throws with 3:54 left, the last of his 14 points. But, when Jamal Boykin missed on the other end, Weaver corralled the rebound while falling out of bounds, tossed the ball back into play where a surprised Christopher caught and dunked it for his 16th point and a 63-62 Cal lead.

“Cal had 12 offensive rebounds and turned them into 13 second-chance points, including 11 in the first half.

Part of that was a matchup problem WSU faced when Cal’s big man, DeVon Hardin, came up sick. With the Bears inside force unavailable, Boykin started and helped spread the Cougars’ defense, grabbing three offensive rebounds in the process.

“With (Hardin) there is a little more of a natural matchup for Aron,” Bennett said. “They certainly played different without him. … We’re in this game that’s similar to the Oregon game, and we came out on the other side.”

Baynes took advantage by scoring 11 points but Boykin had 12, including the first six of the second half.

Caleb Forrest, getting 16 minutes in relief of Baynes, scored eight points, including six consecutive midway through the second half. Cowgill added another eight and six rebounds.

But it wasn’t enough to cross the line on the winning side.

“We have to be resigned to the fact we are going to be in a lot of tight games and try to execute and finish down the stretch,” Bennett said. “At home, on the road, that’s been the case this year.”