Huskies edge Cougars on dramatic 3-pointer

PULLMAN – The emotions moving through the Washington State players and fans after an 87-84 loss to Washington on Sunday were those of disbelief, confusion and, ultimately, exasperation. The Cougars (11-15, 5-9 Pac-12) did almost everything they needed to triumph, right up to forcing Andrew Andrews into a 25-foot dagger to win the game with 2.7 seconds left that sent a crowd that was reaching a fever pitch as it prepared for extra basketball grumbling toward the exits. It was the same spot Andrew bailed out the Huskies after 33 seconds one possession earlier to take a two-point lead and augur his game-winner. “It sucked. It sucked especially when players are ready, the crowd turned out, it sucks” the Cougars’ DaVonte Lacy said. “That’s all I can really say right now. It sucked.” It sucked because the Cougars were successful in their game plan to force UW’s big men to the bench with foul trouble, limiting Shawn Kemp Jr. to just 18 minutes, giving Jernard Jarreau four fouls and fouling out Gilles Dierickx in just eight minutes on the court. It was deflating because WSU forced the Huskies into 8-of-23 shooting from 3-point land while shooting 8 of 12 from behind the arc themselves. And the game was depressing because the biggest crowd of the season (5,567) watched the Cougars lead for nearly 25 minutes by doing exactly what they planned, only to see them lose because they faced Andrews on what was easily his best night as a college basketball player. The 3-pointers would have been desperate heaves had they missed, but instead they were the fireworks celebrating a career-game for Andrews, who scored 35 points and surpassed his previous high of 22 with nearly 16 minutes left in the game. During the week leading up the game, WSU coach Ernie Kent joked that he hoped Nigel Williams-Goss would miss the flight to Pullman, and UW’s point guard had a big impact to be sure with 20 points and six assists. But time and again, Andrews ignited the Huskies who otherwise weren’t able to shoot, rebound or run with the Cougars. His hero bombs at the end of the game will make the highlight reels, but his biggest 3-pointers may have come with about four minutes left in the first half when he hit a pair on consecutive possessions to knock WSU out of a 2-3 zone that had stymied the Huskies while WSU built an 11-point lead. “I thought the game was lost for us in the first half,” Kent said. “We had a chance to take a team that had lost seven games and put them down in a game double figures and get rolling on them and we did not to do that.” When WSU beat UW on Jan. 10 it did in large part by successfully avoiding the interior patrolled by shot-blocking center Robert Upshaw, who still holds a sizable lead among Pac-12 players in blocked shots despite his Jan. 26 dismissal. With Upshaw elsewhere and Jarreau playing for the first time after missing 10 games with a knee injury, the Cougars shifted focus in the rematch with UW, attacking the paint in the post and on drives. It was a sound strategy and it worked. Josh Hawkinson had 17 points and 14 rebounds – he’s now one double-double shy of the school record with 16 – and Jordan Railey had an efficient 10 points. Ike Iroegbu, Lacy and Que Johnson attacked the paint and got to the free-throw line a combined 23 times, adding 19 points. And Andrews just kept hitting shots for the Huskies, supplemented by the occasional Jarreau jumper or Williams-Goss floater. The win ends a seven-game losing streak for UW (15-11, 4-10). Seven of the last eight meetings between the teams have been decided by five points or less. Kent said before and after the game to “throw out the records” because rivalry games are unpredictable. The fact that no UW or WSU basketball team, men or women, won its rivalry game in front of its home crowd this season supports the claim. And to lose on back-to-back NBA buzzer-beaters by a 35 percent 3-point shooter, well, who could have predicted that?