WSU held its final regular-season home game at Beasley Coliseum this evening, hosting the Washington Huskies in front of a rowdy Beasley crowd. The Huskies opened the game on a 6-0 run with a pair of high-flying dunks, but the Cougs retaliated with a 14-0 run of their own. The WSU run lasted over six minutes and gave WSU an eight-point lead with 10:17 left to play in the half. The game continued with a second run by Washington to tie the game up at 14 before the eight-minute media timeout. The teams traded baskets back and forth for the remainder of the half as the Cougs benefited from early fouls by UW and went to the line often - converting 11-of-12 free throws in the first half. At halftime the game was all tied up at 28. Returning from the locker room, the Cougs swapped buckets with the Huskies before Brock Motum drove the baseline and rose up for a massive jam over UW's Terrence Ross with 18:13 left. Abe Lodwick and Marcus Capers followed Motum's jam with a breakaway dunk and lay in that brought the ZZU CRU to a roar and gave WSU a seven-point lead with 17 minutes to play. The Cougars continued to extend their lead to 11 until Washington's Austin Seferian-Jenkins was issued a technical foul with 13:09 left after shoving off Reggie Moore as the two walked past each other. WSU had the opportunity to extend its lead further; however, poor second half free throw shooting troubled the Cougars. With WSU missing free throws, the Huskies clawed their way back into the game, forcing a 47-47 tie with 7:50 left in the game. Both teams continued to make buckets, unable to extend their lead to more than two. With only 51 seconds left to play, the Cougars faced a one-point deficit and Washington had the ball. A blocking foul committed by Abe Lodwick sent UW to the line where it converted 1-of-2, giving itself a two-point cushion. WSU brought the ball back up the court and called a quick timeout to allow Patrick Simon to sub into the game and attempt a 3-pointer that fell short. The missed shot left the Cougs no choice but to foul with only 10 seconds left. UW extended its lead to four and a last second shot by Simon also rimmed out as the Cougars fell to Washington at home, 59-55.

Player(s) of the Game:
Senior pair: Capers & Lodwick. Being the last home game, tonight's Player of the Game should go to a senior on the team, but there were two impressive performances by seniors tonight. Abe Lodwick scored eight points and pulled in nine rebounds tying his career-high. In addition, Marcus Capers tied a season-high and set a personal conference-high with 14 points. Capers also dished out five assists and pulled in six rebounds. The pair was instrumental in keeping WSU in the game until the very end. Congratulations to all the seniors!

Play of the Game:
Motum's one-handed throw-down over a Husky. Anyone in attendance of tonight's game would agree that the Play of the Game was Brock Motum's posterizing jam over Washington's Terrence Ross. Motum cut the basket along the baseline and Reggie Moore dished Motum the ball. Motum took two steps and rose up over Ross to throw down a rim-rattling jam that sent the Beasley crowd into a frenzy. When the crowd finally settled down, it was discovered that the official had also called a blocking foul on Ross and Motum went to the line for a free throw. Despite missing the free throw, the dunk sparked a 12-0 run by the Cougs.

Turning Point:
The final buzzer. There were runs by both teams in this game as one team would extend their lead and the other would pull them back in. Throughout the game there were nine ties and eight lead changes. Even with only 51 seconds left, WSU was trailing by just one point and a last second shot by Simon nearly brought the Cougs to within one. For the second time in three games the Cougs lost by just four points.

Stat of the Game:
First half free throws and second half free throws. This game was a tale of two halves for WSU when it came to free throws. In the first half, WSU sunk 11-of-12 from the charity stripe and replaced the Cougs' lackluster field goal percentage of .267. In the second half the opposite became true as the team shot .455 percent from the floor, but only converted on 6-of-20 free throws. The poor second-half free throw shooting eventually cost the Cougs much needed points at the end of the game as WSU lost by only four points.

The Cougars are now 6-10 in Pac-12 play and 14-14 overall. WSU now travels to Los Angeles for their final two regular-season games against UCLA and USC. The Cougs will first face UCLA Thursday March 1 at 7:30 p.m. and then will play USC the following Saturday March 3 at 3 p.m. Following the final two regular-season games, the Cougs will return to Pullman to prepare for the Pac-12 Tournament beginning March 7 in Los Angeles.

Waving the flag for Wazzu,

Jim Crawford


Ken Bone Post Game Press Conference


Student-Athlete Post Game Press Conference