Cougars come up short against WCC-leading Saint Mary’s

PULLMAN — Washington State has proven that it can hang with the best. Beating the best, however, is another matter entirely.

The Cougars led the Gaels for 30 straight minutes and trailed by no more than two scores for all but two seconds, but lost to Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 80-75 on Saturday at Beasley Coliseum in West Coast Conference men’s basketball play.

WSU’s loss is its second in three days after it suffered a 93-65 defeat at Santa Clara (Calif.) on Thursday.

“Proud of our team for sticking together,” WSU coach David Riley said. “That was a tough finish. But I think if we can take these kinds of steps — like we did from Thursday to Saturday — and keep carrying that forward we can do some things this year.”

Cougar collapse

LeJuan Watts flexed his arms inward and screamed after his dunk put the Cougs (15-7, 5-4) up by 10, 49-39, with about 15 minutes left in the contest.

The Cougar crowd — 4,240 strong — reflected Watts’ exuberance with a deafening roar as WSU was on the verge of a would-be season-defining win against Saint Mary’s (18-3, 8-0), the top team in the WCC standings.

After jumping out to a 12-3 lead, entering the locker room at halftime up by three and leading for 30 straight minutes (30:01 to be exact), the Cougars witnessed what Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett’s teams have done for nearly a quarter-century.

“They’re just disciplined,” WSU guard Nate Calmese said. “They got a really good coach. They just do what they do to a tee. I mean, they use the whole 30 seconds, and then they offensive rebound really well.

“It’s tiring to guard a team for 30 seconds and then have to box them out. You know, those are back-breaking plays.”

With a nine-point lead and about 13 minutes left in the game, the Cougars turned the ball over on three straight possessions in about 90 seconds.

Calmese dribbled off a Gael defender’s foot and watched the third straight turnover roll out of bounds. The junior from Gilbert, Ariz., said that the three-turnover stretch is what truly cost the Cougs.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. I mean, two offensive fouls, and then a dribble off a foot,” Calmese said. “That hurts.”

The Gaels cashed in on each one with points on the other end of the floor to shave the Cougar lead from nine to one.

The six straight points off of turnovers were part of a 20-5 Gael run following Watts’ dunk, which flipped the score from a 10-point WSU lead to a five-point Saint Mary’s advantage.

A dynamic Lithuanian duo leads Saint Mary’s. Sophomore Paulius Murauskas of Kaunas, Lithuania, tallied a game-high 25 points and 10 of the Gaels’ 24 rebounds.

Senior Augustas Marciulionis of Vilnius, Lithuania, sank three 3-pointers, including two on consecutive possessions en route to 17 points.

Once the Gaels gained the lead, they did not lose it. Saint Mary’s used its 24-18 advantage on the boards and 14 to WSU’s six second-chance points, to carve out the five-point win.

Price money from deep

The Cougs were not truly out of the game, trailing by no more than six points until the final minute.

Following the Gaels’ 20-5 run, WSU and Saint Mary’s went 20-20 the rest of the way.

The Cougs kept pace with Saint Mary’s thanks to senior forward Ethan Price, who hit four 3-pointers on his way to 20 points to lead four Cougs in double figures.

Price connected on his final two 3s a minute apart, making his fourth trey off of a well-timed Calmese pass.

“To knock those shots down in a big moment towards the end of the game, that’s what I’ve gotta do for the team,” Price said. “It was cool, but would like to have come up with a win.”

Playing and coaching against the best

The Cougars pushed the pace and opened the game with a 12-3 run as Calmese, Tomas Thrastarson and Watts parted the Gael sea for layups and Dane Erikstrup drew an early four-point play, drilling the Cougars’ lone successful 3-pointer in the first half and the succeeding free throw.

WSU only attempted three treys in the first half, a departure from their usual offensive identity and the 11 long balls attempted in the second half.

Riley said Calmese played a big role in manufacturing offense with key ball movement and everyone else on the floor was in the right place, doing the right things.

“When we play like that, we’re really hard to guard,” Riley said. “Our guys are starting to figure out the reads, and it looked good. It was fun. I mean, the crowd was going, our guys were playing together, we built up a little bit of a lead, but we got to figure out how to sustain that.”

The fast start and 30-minute lead saw the Cougs at their finest until the shark-like instincts of Saint Mary’s preying on Cougar blood punished WSU for the several mistakes they made.

“When we’re locked in and we execute the stuff we need to execute, we can play at a really high level and we can beat anyone in this conference,” Price said.

But just hanging with a team has not been enough to win. Three consecutive turnovers busted the floodgates off their hinges as the Gaels had no problem cruising to the finish.

A WCC full of experienced coaches

For Riley, the WCC presents a unique challenge with a slew of tenured coaches.

Gonzaga’s Mark Few is in his 26th season leading the Zags. Bennett has coached Saint Mary’s for 24 years.

“These are kind of guys I’ve looked up to as a coach,” Riley said.

Few and Bennett in particular have experienced prolonged success at their respective institutions, posing quite a challenge for Riley, in his fourth year leading a program and first year at a new school.

The Cougs play three straight games on the road over the next two weeks, starting with a 7 p.m. Thursday game at Pacific, a team that beat WSU 95-94 in overtime on Jan. 9 in Pullman.

“I’ll be totally honest, I don’t even know who we play in three games,” Riley said. “We can’t afford to look ahead any more than just going to this Pacific game. ... When we stay in the moment with this team, I think we’re really good.”

SAINT MARY’S (CAL.) (18-3, 8-0)

Murauskas 9-15 4-4 25, Saxen 6-10 0-0 12, Marciulionis 6-11 2-3 17, Ross 5-10 3-3 13, Barrett 2-3 0-0 4, Lewis 1-2 0-0 3, Hardaway 0-0 4-4 4, Wessels 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-52 13-14 80.

WASHINGTON ST. (15-7, 5-4)

Erikstrup 6-9 3-3 16, Price 6-10 4-4 20, L.Watts 5-11 4-4 14, Calmese 7-13 2-2 16, Thrastarson 2-2 0-0 4, Vavers 1-1 0-0 3, Gerrits 0-0 0-0 0, Okafor 1-2 0-0 2, Wynott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-49 13-13 75.

Halftime — Washington St. 38-35. 3-Point Goals — Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 7-17 (Marciulionis 3-5, Murauskas 3-8, Lewis 1-2, Ross 0-2), Washington St. 6-14 (Price 4-7, Vavers 1-1, Erikstrup 1-3, Wynott 0-1, Calmese 0-2). Rebounds — Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 23 (Murauskas 12), Washington St. 15 (Thrastarson 4). Assists — Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 11 (Marciulionis 7), Washington St. 13 (L.Watts 6). Total Fouls — Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 16, Washington St. 15. A — 4,240 (11,671).

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.