An uncomfortable win snaps Cougs three game losing skid.
Despite leading by as much as 30, the Washington State Cougars just sneaked by the four win San Diego Toreros, 93-86.
WSU (17-13, 7-10 in conference) more or less told the arc of their season in the 40 minutes of basketball on Thursday night. A hot start turned into a near disaster as the game winded down. After leading by 28 at halftime, the Cougs watched their lead dwindle all the way down to five with under a minute to go after a series of bad shots and a flurry of turnovers. Luckily for the Cougs, the clock ran out on USD (4-26, 1-16) before they could complete their comeback.
WSU’s two active Senior Day honorees, Dane Erikstrup and Ethan Price, led the team in scoring with 23 and 17 respectively. Erikstrup scored 15 of his 23 in the first half on a perfect 5/5 from the field and 3/3 from beyond the arc before fouling out in the second half.
Cedric Coward was also honored in the pregame ceremonies, though the door is still open for him to return if he wants to.
The Cougar offense opened the game scorching hot, hitting seven of their first 10, and 16 of their first 23 shots from the field. As the Toreros struggled to find a rhythm offensively, WSU quickly built a massive lead that felt insurmountable. WSU turned an early double-digit lead into a 25-point lead thanks to a 16-0 run with contributions from Erikstrup, Isaiah Watts, Nate Calmese, Price and N.D. Okafor. A few minutes later, the lead was up to 30 before the game had even reached the halftime break. The Cougars finished the first half shooting 65.5% from the field and hit eight of their 14 three-point attempts.
With a 28 point halftime lead, the Cougars looked to finally have their first real comfortable win in hand in a long time. WSU got their lead back out to 30 on layups from LeJuan Watts and Rihards Vavers with 13:25 to play and kept the Toreros from breaking within 20 until the 6:16 mark. But once USD broke that 20-point barrier, the wheels really began to fall off for WSU.
The Cougars really began to take their foot off the gas with questionable shot selections and multiple just inexcusable turnovers over the games final seven or so minutes, allowing USD to slowly make WSU feel uncomfortable. WSU’s 30 point lead was down to single digits within 11 minutes of gametime. USD scored more points in that 11 minute stretch to cut the lead to single digits than they did the entire first half. A 39-17 run now made the comeback possibility feel very real.
As the game rolled into the final two minutes, it still felt as though if WSU could just put together two or three good offensive possessions, the game would be over. Whether it be getting a decent shot up late in the clock or simply putting the ball in the basket. Instead, WSU proceeded to turn the ball over on seven of eight possessions, allowing USD to cut the deficit to five. This wasn’t USD making great defensive plays and jumping in the passing lanes either. These were horrendous passes, players fumbling the ball and WSU struggling to beat the Toreros full court press.
With 20 seconds to go, the Toreros had a chance to make it a one possession game after yet another WSU turnover, but turned the ball over themselves, allowing WSU to escape with the win.
In total, WSU turned the ball over 13 times in the second half with nine of them coming in the final seven minutes and seven turnovers in the final 3:31. It’s one thing to watch a team make a comeback on an insane shooting stretch, it’s another to hand them the ball over and over again and practically beg them to beat you.
The Cougars will wrap up their regular season on Saturday on the road against the Pepperdine Waves before the WCC tournament starts next Thursday. If WSU can defeat the Waves, they will vault themselves into the six seed. As the six seed, WSU would get two byes and need four wins to win the conference, starting their quest on Saturday, March 8th. If they lose to Pepperdine, they will either be the seven or eight seed depending on how Portland does against San Diego. Either way, they would have only one bye and need five wins in five days to win the conference and play on Friday, March 7th.