WSU’s LeJuan Watts records rare triple-double, but Cougars take 93-65 road loss to Santa Clara

PULLMAN — LeJuan Watts labored to the finish line. As Washington State’s 93-65 road loss to Santa Clara wound down, a Quad 1 defeat for the Cougars on Thursday night, their sophomore wing was battling nagging injuries to both his ankle and knee.
None of it seemed to affect him. When the final buzzer sounded on WSU’s third loss in five games, Watts had recorded just the program’s second-ever triple double, totaling 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, almost singlehandedly keeping the Cougs afloat down the stretch.
But not even Watts could prevent WSU (15-6, 5-3 WCC) from absorbing nearly a 30-point loss, letting Santa Clara follow the Cougars’ late run with a 10-0 surge, pulling away for good. It’s a missed Quad 1 opportunity for WSU, which gave up 18 offensive rebounds for 19 second-chance points, which SCU used to keep WSU at arm’s length all night.
“I think when you look at the game overall, the physicality was clear that Santa Clara won that game,” WSU coach David Riley said in a postgame radio interview. “They punked us on the glass. We weren’t able to hold on the ball. They were getting up into us, and that wore us down. I think we had some good runs in the first half, some good runs in the second half. But we weren’t disciplined enough or tough enough.”
On his birthday, WSU point guard Nate Calmese slogged through his most forgettable outing in his Cougar career. Saddled with foul trouble for much of the night, Calmese totaled just 3 points on 7 shots, losing 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. Without his scoring punch, which they have come to rely on, the Cougs couldn’t answer the Broncos’ runs.
WSU’s other double-digit scorers were forward Ethan Price with 16 points and transfer wing Ri Vavers with 11 points on three triples. It was a long-awaited return for Vavers, who had been out since Dec. 2 with broken bones in both hands. Expected to miss likely the rest of the season with those injuries, Vavers jumped back into action quicker than Riley was anticipating earlier in the season, giving the Cougars a reliable defender and catch-and-shoot threat from the perimeter.
“It’s nice to have Ri back,” Riley said. “He’s a steady force for us on both sides of the ball, and one of the best shooters I’ve coached. He’ll get his rhythm and he’ll start feeling things out. It’s really nice to have him back.”
The Cougs, who return to action Saturday to host first-place Saint Mary’s, don’t have long to lick their wounds. For WSU, Saturday’s game will be the second Quad 1 game in a stretch chock full of them, including two next weekend on the road against Pacific and San Francisco.
In those games, the Cougars will look to correct some of the mistakes that led to Thursday’s loss to Santa Clara. WSU might not have been expecting reserve forward Johnny O’Neil to make an impact, but the Cougs left him wide open on several occasions, allowing him to pop for a team-best 17 points on five treys. WSU also lost 17 turnovers (six in the second half), which SCU turned into a whopping 28 points, punishing the visitors for their carelessness.