Washington State lets lead slip away in loss to No. 11 UCLA 67-66

PULLMAN – Washington State stayed in front of No. 11 UCLA for the majority of the night, but the Cougars faded late and surrendered the lead in the waning moments.

WSU failed to record a field goal over the final 7:23 of Friday’s Pac-12 matchup at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougs’ advantage slipped, then finally disappeared with 19 seconds on the clock.

Bruin forward Adem Bona put up a layup in transition, drawing a goaltend that gave UCLA a one-point lead – its first since the opening minutes of the game. WSU forward DJ Rodman missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, and the Bruins escaped with a 67-66 victory.

“Obviously, a tough loss for us,” coach Kyle Smith said. “We controlled the game most of the way. We needed to come up with a couple of plays, execution-wise.”

WSU squandered an opportunity to secure one of its best wins in recent memory and dropped its third consecutive game, falling to 5-9 overall and 0-3 in Pac-12 play.

“I’ll say all the clichés – “flush it” – but I don’t think that’s real,” Smith added. “It’s gonna sting. It’ll hurt. You gotta come back and be mad, not sad about it and hopefully play harder and not feel sorry for yourself.”

The Cougs took their first lead about three minutes into the game and didn’t trail until Bona’s go-ahead score. WSU used efficient shooting and tight defense to open a 12-point buffer late in the first half.

The Bruins (12-2, 3-0) were limited to a season-low 36.2% from the field, but went 21-for-22 from the foul line.

“Holding them to 21-for-58 from the field is going to win you most games, but 21-for-22 from the free-throw line is hard to overcome,” Rodman said.

UCLA shot 26.7% in the first half, then came alive after the break and tied the score after four minutes.

Rodman caught fire in the second half, scoring 15 of his 19 points in the period. He hit a step-back 3-pointer with 8:30 on the clock, and Cougar guard Justin Powell followed with another triple to put WSU ahead by nine points. But the Cougs’ offense lacked poise down the stretch. They managed five points over the final 7:23 and committed four turnovers in that span, allowing UCLA to inch back.

“There were just plays that you fundamentally gotta be able to make if you want to beat a good team,” Smith said.

WSU big man Mouhamed Gueye netted two free throws with 1:14 remaining to put WSU ahead by three. The Bruins couldn’t answer on a short jumper, but they snared an offensive board and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. earned a trip to the line. He sank both freebies to make it a one-point game.

“Missing the rebound and putting them on the line made it too easy on them,” Smith said. “(UCLA) would’ve had to foul, probably. (We) had a chance to go maybe get ourselves up five.

“We gotta be better. We gotta be smarter. With 50 seconds left, we gave them a chance to cut it to one and we turned it over twice.”

UCLA guard Tyger Campbell jumped an errant WSU pass on the next possession. He dished a pass out in front to Bona, whose shot attempt was swatted away too late by Coug forward Mouhamed Gueye.

WSU, facing its first deficit since 5-3 at the 18:08 mark of the first half, tried to get the ball to Gueye inside for a game-winning layup, but there was too much traffic. After a couple of passes, and a near-turnover, Rodman had a clean look from the corner, but it rattled out.

“My eyes were lit up because it’s the moment that you wish for, a game-winner,” Rodman said. “I’m not going to beat myself up too much on that, because there’s a lot more that gets us to that place. We shouldn’t have been down one at that moment, but it happened. I was ready to step up and hit it, but I didn’t.”

Rodman shot 7 of 10 from the field and finished two points shy of his career high.

“It’s disappointing. I know he wanted it,” Smith said. “When you play that well, you feel like you deserve a ‘W.’ ”

Gueye totaled 18 points (6 of 14) and a career-high 18 rebounds. Guard Jabe Mullins scored all 11 of his points in the first half. The Cougars shot 42.9% from the field – 55.6% in the first half – and finished 8 of 22 from 3-point range.

“UCLA is just stingy,” Smith said. “They’re used to winning. They were going to make us earn it, and we let them off the hook a little bit. … You can’t give them the ball twice in the last two minutes.”

Jaquez scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half. The Bruins’ star player shot 5 of 14 from the field but went 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Guards Tyger Campbell and David Singleton tallied 16 and 14 points, respectively, to help the Bruins extend their winning streak to nine games.

WSU hosts USC at noon on Sunday.