Cougars suffer first loss of season

NEWARK, N.J. – Six games into the 2008-09 basketball season, the Washington State Cougars finally learned what defeat is like.

The lesson came before 2,991 in the final of the Legends Classic at the Prudential Center. And it came against the No. 4 team in the nation, the Pitt Panthers, who prevailed 57-43.

But it didn’t come easy.

Then again, nothing ever does against the Panthers, a UCLA-play-alike coached by a Ben Howland disciple, Jamie Dixon. And, like the Cougars’ recent games with the Bruins, Saturday’s battle was a physical, body-banging affair. And, like those games, WSU came up short.

Short, certainly, but smarter as well.

“We learned something from this,” said guard Nik Koprivica, before explaining what that is. “We can compete with the best teams in the nation. … If we play like first half, with less turnovers, we can play with anybody.

“That’s a good thing to know and I think that will build our confidence.”

After handling Mississippi State in the tournament opener Friday, WSU took the momentum – and the ball – at Pitt. And the Panthers (7-0), defending Big East champions, took away both.

The ball in the first half; the momentum, and the victory, in the second.

“You’ve got to be able to take care of the ball,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said, pointing to a first half in which WSU had 19 shots and Pitt had 30. “We had 10 turnovers. That’s 10 extra shots we could have got. They had a bunch of offensive rebounds to give them a lot of extra opportunities.”

And yet WSU trailed just 26-23 at intermission.

But the Cougars defense wasn’t clicking. They were making too many mental mistakes – for example, falling for ball fakes, especially those of tournament MVP Sam Young, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds – and giving up too many easy shots.

“We probably got lifted about five times tonight that led to baskets, a foul and a trip to the line,” said Daven Harmeling, who led WSU with 12 points, all on 3-pointers.

When Pitt put together a 9-0 run early in the second half, opening a 40-27 lead with 13 minutes, 30 seconds left, WSU looked done.

So Bennett went to three freshmen – Klay Thompson, who made the all-tournament team despite having just seven points (on 3-of-12 shooting) and six rebounds in the final, DeAngelo Casto and Marcus Capers.

“I thought they gave us some life,” Bennett said. “You’re holding your breath with them a little bit, but you’ve got to let them cut their teeth a little bit, too.”

They also cut into the Pitt lead, riding a Capers jumper and two Casto transition baskets to cut the lead to seven at the 10:20 mark.

Five minutes later, WSU cut it to six (46-40) on a Harmeling 3-pointer.

Then Pitt point guard Levance Fields, who had been relatively quiet with seven points and just two assists, hit two big shots, a 15-footer that cut momentum and a 22-footer that sealed the deal with 3:14 left.

“He makes plays when we need it,” said Young, who made quite a few himself. “He’s just a great point guard.”

“We cut it to six, and I don’t feel like we sustained the things we have control over mentally,” Bennett said. “We got fatigued and we broke down a little bit physically and mentally.

“When you play against a team that physical and that solid, that stuff sticks out like a sore thumb.”

So did the play of WSU’s point guard Taylor Rochestie. He had four turnovers Friday night, then doubled that total against the Panthers. He was also 2 of 9 from the floor, making him 4 of 23 for the weekend.

“It’s inexcusable,” Rochestie said of his ball-handling woes. “No matter what the circumstances … I can’t go out there have four assists and eight turnovers in a high competition when I’m trying to be one of the leaders of the team.

“You have to lead a lot by example. That’s what I’ve tried to do. Tonight was just unacceptable. Same with last night. I came to New Jersey and played two bad games.”

The Cougars’ 15 turnovers led to 17 Pitt points. The physical Panthers also got to the free-throw line 27 times, making 20. WSU was 3 of 4.

“You look at the free-throw line discrepancy, that was big,” Bennett said.

But not as big as Young, who took over the game at times, and DeJuan Blair, who controlled the boards all night, finishing with 10 rebounds.

“We had a matchup problem with Young,” Bennett said, who added he felt Casto did the best job against the 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward.

Which is one of the lessons Bennett learned in New Jersey, a goal he set before the trip began. But that wasn’t the biggest lesson.

“I learned we’ve got a ways to go,” Bennett said, before reflecting a little deeper.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming here, I really didn’t,” he said. And now?

“I’ve learned, even more this year than any year, we are walking that fine line. If we’re not clicking, or break down defensively, we don’t have the guys who can make up for it offensively.”

At least they didn’t Saturday night.

“They weren’t doing anything that was totally pushing us out of our offense, it was us taking us out of our offense,” said Rochestie, who accepted the responsibility. “It was us, a lot of times, not knocking down shots.

“Big time plays where we’re down seven, eight points and we have a wide-open 3, like myself, on the side and I can’t make it. Then they come down and they make a 3. Now you’re down 10 instead of being down four.”

And that’s how you taste defeat.