Lopez does in Cougs

LOS ANGELES – Twice during the regular season Washington State played the Stanford Cardinal.

Both were typical Cougars games built on defense, ball control and patience.

And twice WSU lost.

So Friday night in the semifinals of the Pac-10 Conference tournament, the Cougars tried something different. They tried to outscore the 11th-ranked Cardinal.

That didn’t work either, despite a career-high 25 points from Kyle Weaver, the second time he’s set a career best against the Cardinal this season, despite another 15 from Derrick Low, 13 from Daven Harmeling and 11 from Taylor Rochestie and despite hitting 12 of 20 3-pointers.

Despite those offensive high points, the 21st-ranked Cougars fell to Stanford 75-68 before what was left of a Staples Center crowd of 18,997.

“They’re a good team and we didn’t play the way we have to win a game like this,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “I told my kids I respected their comeback, I thought it was gutsy, (they) made some shots, showed some moxie, but I didn’t feel like we played a real smart, sound game.”

Though the Cougars (24-8) did try a handful of different tricks to contain Brook Lopez and the Cardinal offense, none really worked.

WSU played a little 1-2-2 zone defense starting with 8 minutes, 43 seconds left. It was only the second time this season the Cougars played zone. This time it lasted four possessions, during which the Cardinal extended their lead by a point.

“That’s just for the team we’re playing in the NCAA tournament, for them to prepare for,” said Bennett, smiling.

Maybe because he knows that despite the loss, WSU’s next game will be in the NCAAs. The Cougars will find out their opponent and destination for next week’s first-round game Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars also tried doubling Stanford’s all-conference post Lopez from a variety of angles. That worked at times, but the 7-foot sophomore still finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds (six offensive) and fouled out Aron Baynes – for about 30 seconds.

But WSU didn’t try taking care of the ball, especially in the first half. The Cougars finished with 14 turnovers after having just 13 combined against the Cardinal in the regular season games.

“That’s too many for us,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if we were forcing it at times, but that hurt us.”

“They can put pressure on the guards because they have those two big guys to clean up mistakes inside,” said Rochestie, referring to Brook and his twin Robin. “It just comes down to the guards just making plays.”

The Cougars also didn’t rebound. Stanford (26-6) had a 37-28 edge, including 14 on the offensive end.

Despite Stanford’s domination in those areas, WSU trailed by just 57-54 with 6:30 left while Stanford was still getting over the shock of the Cougars’ zone.

But five consecutive empty possessions – two turnovers, a Robin Lopez block of a Weaver dunk attempt, and two misses – resulted in a 10-0 Cardinal run and a 67-54 lead.

“The opportunities we had to score, we didn’t take advantage of, then we didn’t do the job on defense,” Rochestie said.

The Cougars never got closer than three – that came on Weaver’s put back with 24.3 seconds left (one of his 12 rebounds) – mostly because the Cardinal hit 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch.

The most different thing the Cougars experienced, however, wasn’t playing a zone or turning the ball over too much. No, it was having a player foul out, then being reinstated.

Baynes was called for his fifth foul with 5:04 left. Both Rochestie and Bennett protested that the foul should have been Rochestie’s, but to no avail. The 6-10 post was sent to the bench. Lawrence Hill stepped to the line, hit two free throws and the Cougars threw the ball in.

Then a whistle blew and the three officials decided to check the television monitor. After a little more than 30 seconds, they called the coaches together, assessed Rochestie the foul and let Baynes back into the game.

He played the rest of the way.

After jumping out to a 13-8 lead on the strength of three quick 3-pointers, the Cougars, in a taste of things to come, became turnover prone. The Cardinal were happy to accept the largesse, turning it into nine consecutive points just before the midpoint of the half. In the first 12 minutes, the Cougars, who average just 10.3 turnovers a game, had five.

Stanford built the lead to as much as 24-17 before WSU made a little run to tie it at 26 on Weaver’s two free throws, part of his 10 attempts from the line.

“They have two 7-footers, two twin towers down there to make it hard on anybody (to finish),” Weaver said. “We had to stay aggressive and make them play defense. That was something I tried to do and it was something we did, at times.”

Though the Cardinal had eight offensive rebounds in the 10 minutes and WSU had one, the Cougars were able to hang close because of near-perfect 3-point shooting.

With Weaver and Rochestie each connecting on two and Low and Harmeling adding one each, the Cougars scored 18 of their first 24 points from beyond the arc.

At halftime they had hit 6 of 8, while connecting on only 4 of 16 shots inside the arc. A big part of that, of course, was the length of Robin Lopez (two first-half blocks) and the rest of the Cardinal defenders. By halftime, four of WSU’s inside shots had been rejected and a number altered. Stanford finished with five blocks.

With the inside closed, WSU went to the perimeter. Low hit 4 of 8 3-pointers, including three consecutive in 1 minute, 25 seconds of the second half, and Harmeling added four more.

But that was negated by the mistakes, illustrated by the number 14, as in WSU’s turnovers and Stanford’s offensive rebounds.

“I told the seniors every game they play from now on could be their last,” Bennett said. “And I hope every game we play we play with a level of intelligence, toughness and soundness that has earmarked our program.

“For us to advance in the tournament, we have to play with a great level of intelligence and it was lacking tonight.”