LAS VEGAS — Washington State erased a 19-point deficit against Oregon, but the Cougar men’s basketball team couldn’t keep hold of the momentum in the waning moments Thursday in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal round at T-Mobile Arena.
After the Ducks flew out to a 34-15 lead, the Cougars ended the first half on a 10-0 run to go into halftime down eight points, 38-30. That momentum carried over into the second half, with WSU taking its first lead since early in the first period on a corner 3-pointer by TJ Bamba for a 58-57 advantage.
The Cougars led by as many as four points in the second half, but the Ducks closed out the game on a 7-0 run as WSU failed to score in the final 3:36.
“I thought that was a really good college basketball game this time of year,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “They obviously came out and really took it to us and we got down big, but I’m proud of our guys for being resilient.”
Keeshawn Barthelemy and Jermaine Couisnard each scored 17 points for fourth-seeded Oregon (19-13), which has won 10 straight games in the conference tournament and advances to play top-seeded UCLA in the semifinal round today. Washington State (17-16), the No. 5 seed, had a seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Bamba finished with 19 points for Washington State. Justin Powell added 15, Mouhamed Gueye had 14 and Andrej Jakimovski 10. The Cougars shot 44%, including 11-of-23 from 3-point range.
“This is a team that has hit 14s on (many) separate occasions, leads the league in 3-point shooting,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “No game is safe against that.”
N’Faly Dante added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Oregon and had some big moments down the stretch.
Dante had a putback with 1:18 left to give Oregon a 72-70 lead, then had a block on a Powell layup attempt with 31 seconds left.
In between those plays, WSU forward DJ Rodman chased down Couisnard and blocked his dunk attempt from behind with 10 seconds to go, but the ball stayed with the Ducks, who closed out the game at the free-throw line.
Dante went to the ground after his block and needed to be helped off the floor.
“We had opportunities late and Oregon made some plays,” Smith said. “Dante made a big shot block, Barthelemy hit two humongous 3s. Sometimes you gotta tip your hat, but proud of the way our guys played and hopefully our season goes on.”
On WSU’s 10-0 run in the first half, Carlos Rosario made his fifth 3 of the season, Bamba hit a floater in the lane and Jakimovski added another 3 as the Ducks missed their final six shots of the half.
“We finally hit shots that we should’ve hit earlier,” Rodman said of the run. “Going down 19 is hard to come back but we did it.”
Gueye, a 6-foot-11 sophomore forward, made a rare shot from distance to get within 47-45 with 13:59 left in what turned into a back-and-forth affair in the final 15 minutes.
Oregon’s bench outscored WSU’s 28-3 and Smith said the Cougs’ might have lost their legs a bit late in the game. Bamba played 39 minutes and all five Cougar starters played at least 30 minutes.
Smith said he’s hopeful the Cougars will be selected for a second straight berth in the National Invitational Tournament, the next-biggest postseason tournament after the NCAA tournament.
Last season, WSU rolled all the way to the NIT semifinal round before falling to Texas A&M.
Gueye 6-11 1-2 14, Jakimovski 3-10 2-2 10, Rodman 3-6 2-2 9, Bamba 6-13 4-4 19, Powell 4-9 4-4 15, Rosario 1-1 0-0 3, Mullins 0-1 0-0 0, Diongue 0-0 0-1 0, Houinsou 0-1 0-0 0, Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Darling 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 13-15 70.
Bittle 1-2 1-1 3, Dante 7-9 2-2 16, Couisnard 4-15 8-10 17, Richardson 1-6 0-0 2, Soares 3-6 2-2 9, Barthelemy 6-12 2-3 17, Guerrier 2-4 0-1 4, Ware 3-5 0-0 7, Wur 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-60 15-19 75.
Halftime: Oregon, 38-30. 3-Point Goals: Washington St. 11-23 (Powell 3-4, Bamba 3-5, Jakimovski 2-8, Rosario 1-1, Gueye 1-2, Rodman 1-3), Oregon 6-21 (Barthelemy 3-6, Soares 1-2, Ware 1-2, Couisnard 1-5, Bittle 0-1, Guerrier 0-1, Wur 0-1, Richardson 0-3). Rebounds: Washington St. 24 (Powell 7), Oregon 30 (Dante 11). Assists: Washington St. 15 (Bamba 5), Oregon 15 (Richardson 4). Total Fouls: Washington St. 19, Oregon 16. A: 10,406 (18,000).
