PULLMAN — In a game of lost opportunities, Washington State’s men’s basketball team did a couple of things Saturday it hasn’t done all year.
It played into overtime and it lost a second consecutive contest.
No. 14 Stanford made more of its opportunities down the stretch and in the extra period to edge the ninth-ranked Cougars 67-65 before a crowd of 9,202 in Beasley Coliseum. The victory was the Cardinal’s fifth-straight and it cement their hold on second-place in the Pacific-10 Conference.
WSU, which entered a four-game homestand last Thursday holding down that second-place spot, saw its conference mark fall to 5-4, partly because it couldn’t hit 50 percent of its free throws in the final 2 minutes, 23 seconds of regulation — even though the Cougars are 74.5 percent free-throw shooting team.
“Basically we had the game in our hands,” said Kyle Weaver, who had a career-high 23 points and made 15 of his 19 shots from the free-throw line. “When you are given free looks, you have to be able to sink them. We didn’t really take advantage of putting them down tonight and it hurt us.”
The Cougars certainly had their opportunities.
They led by nine points twice in the second half. They led by six with a little more than 7 minutes to play, and they led by one, 52-51, when Weaver stepped to the line with 2:23 remaining in regulation. To that point, WSU had converted 12 of 13 free-throw attempts.
But Weaver missed one of two. Aron Baynes, who played just 15 foul-plagued minutes in his matchup with Stanford’s 7-foot Brook Lopez, did the same. In between, Stanford reserve Taj Finger scored on a layup.
Lawrence Hill, who started in place of the injured Anthony Goods (sprained ankle) and came through with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, made one free throw and Brook Lopez added two more to give Stanford a 56-54 lead. With 46 seconds to go, Weaver hit one of two before Lopez, who was just 4-for-16 from the floor against WSU’s double teams, missed a baseline jump hook.
Then with a chance to give WSU the lead, Cowgill missed two free throws.
It was contagious. Stanford point guard Mitch Johnson, who finished with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds, did the same. So, with 9.8 seconds to play, WSU had one more opportunity to pull out the win.
Weaver took it to the rim and was fouled by Hill. He hit the first to tie the score, but the second skimmed out. Stanford called time out and, in the final 5 seconds of regulation, got shots from Robin Lopez and Finger, but both missed.
“We got to the spot where we maybe could have put it away or come out on top, and we didn’t,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “You just have to play well to be in games. Then you have to execute and make some plays down the stretch, whether it’s free throws or a big stop.”
The Cougars didn’t do either in the 5-minute overtime, only forcing two stops and missing two free throws. The Cardinal had just two stops as well, but a 3-pointer from Hill and a spinning 10-footer from Robin Lopez gave them a 66-63 edge. Hill then fouled Weaver on a 3-point attempt and sent him to the line with 6 seconds to play in overtime.
Weaver, who also had a game-high 11 rebounds, made the first free throw, missed the second and made the third. Stanford’s Johnson then was fouled and he made one of two, making it 67-65.
With 5.4 seconds to play in overtime, WSU had one more opportunity to tie. Point guard Taylor Rochestie took the inbounds pass and attacked. He received a high screen from Cowgill and Brook Lopez switched off on Rochestie as the Cougar took it to the basket.
“I was thinking, ‘Brook, please block the shot,’ ” Finger said, watching from the bench after fouling out with eight points and eight rebounds.
Lopez, who was credited with five blocked shots, didn’t get this one. But he bothered Rochestie enough and the ball spun out of the basket as the horn sounded. Rochestie slumped to the floor and the Cougars had their first losing streak of the Tony Bennett era.
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