Washington State’s late rally runs out of steam in loss at Arizona State
Washington State rallied late, climbing out of an 11-point hole and cutting Arizona State’s lead to three points with about 4 minutes remaining Thursday, but the Cougars’ surge ran out of steam.
WSU converted one of its last seven shots from 3-point range, allowing the Sun Devils to separate down the stretch for a 77-71 victory at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
“Hard-fought road game,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “We had some opportunities to get back in that game, just couldn’t knock (shots) down.”
The Cougars (6-10, 1-4 Pac-12) never led, and they appeared to be buried midway through the second half. Any time WSU showed signs of life, the Sun Devils (12-3, 3-1) responded with a basket to preserve a comfortable advantage.
ASU guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 6:21 remaining to put his team ahead 69-58. But WSU answered quickly with an 8-0 spurt, featuring back-to-back 3-pointers from guard Jabe Mullins.
Mullins couldn’t sustain his hot shooting, missing three tries from long range over the next minute with ASU hanging on to a three-point lead. The Sun Devils then shook out of their funk and put together a 6-0 run over 3 minutes to stamp out WSU’s comeback attempt.
“We didn’t make a shot,” Smith said of the last few minutes of the game. Forward DJ Rodman stopped the drought, making a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, but two more WSU 3-pointers missed the mark and ASU’s six-point lead stood.
“Rodman hit one in there,” Smith said. “Justin (Powell) had a wide open one (miss). I think Jabe had four good looks, maybe one that was contested pretty hard. We kind of played that hand. You’re not going to get a stop every time.”
Mullins totaled a game-high 19 points off the bench, shooting 5 of 9 from 3-point range. He scored 14 points in the second half to spearhead WSU’s rally.
“We wouldn’t have been in that situation if Jabe hadn’t made some big 3s,” Smith said. “We ran some actions (for him) … he got some good looks. We’ll take those again. Just gotta knock them down. We gave ourselves a chance.”
ASU used efficient shooting and turnovers to build an 11-point lead midway through the first half. WSU started 1 of 8 on 3-pointers and committed seven of its 12 turnovers in the first half. The Cougars eventually found their 3-point stroke and closed to within striking distance late in the half. The Sun Devils went up 42-36 at halftime and restored their double-digit lead 7 minutes into the second half.
The Sun Devils have made their living on defense this season – they rank 23rd nationally in defensive efficiency, per KenPom.com – but they had one of their most efficient games of the year on the offensive end against WSU. ASU recorded a 67% shooting percentage on attempts inside the arc to offset its 5-for-17 mark on 3-pointers.
“Overall, we didn’t defend well enough to win the game,” Smith said. “Warren Washington really put us in a bind.”
Washington, an ASU forward, scored 18 points in the paint on 9-of-10 shooting. He scored 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the floor in the first half. Cambridge contributed 13 points and guard DJ Horne chipped in 12.
The Cougars shot 42.9% from the field and 11 of 32 (34.4%) on 3s.
Rodman added another standout performance , scoring 16 points (6 of 12 from the field) and adding 12 rebounds for his second career double-double. The senior scored 35 points combined last weekend in WSU’s split with the Los Angeles schools.
Powell scored all 10 of his points in the first half against ASU. Big man Mouhamed Gueye had eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Cougars will travel to Tucson for a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday against No. 5 Arizona (13-1, 2-1).