WSU falls short in rock fight against Bradley, 64-60

The Washington State Cougars fell short of an impressive road win, losing to the Bradley Braves 64-60.

In a super close contest that never saw either team lead by more than nine points, Bradley (5-4) was able to squeak out a win at home in the closing minute with a go-ahead bucket with 19 seconds to play. WSU (3-6) played well defensively, but the Cougars were plagued by turnovers on the offensive end, finishing with 20 total. Bradley’s Demarion Burch led all scorers with 23 points.

WSU jumped out to an early 12-3 lead off a pair of threes from Tomas Thrastarson and Eemeli Yalaho. They also got early contributions from ND Okafor and Jerone Morton. The Bradley defense tightened after WSU scored 12 in the first five minutes and limited the Cougars to just 17 points over the last 15 minutes of the first half. On the opposite end of the court, Bradley struggled to make shots thanks in part to some solid defensive possessions from the Cougars. But where Bradley really got their points was on second chances. On multiple occasions, WSU fumbled the defensive rebound out of bounds, which led to Bradley points. Bradley shot just 29% from the field and hit 4-17 of their three-pointers, yet at the halftime break, the Cougars only led by one thanks to those nine second-chance points and 11 points off turnovers for the Braves.

The Braves took their first lead of the game early in the second half thanks to a pair of free throws from Burch as WSU was careless with the ball out of the break. Four of the Cougars’ first five possessions in the second half ended in turnovers, but it only led to four points for the Braves. The Cougars retied the game on a Yalaho three-pointer and retook the lead on a Thrastarson three. WSU’s run extended to 8-0 on a pair of free throws from Yalaho.

Bradley had a great chance to eat into the lead when Thrastarson fouled Burch on a three-point attempt. Burch could only make one of his three attempts at the charity stripe to keep WSU’s lead at two possessions.

Although the Cougars were able to slow the rate of their turnovers, they still struggled with bad passes, sloppy dribbling, and, in fairness, some opportunistic defense from the Braves that gave away multiple possessions. Just as quickly as WSU built a lead, Bradley capitalized on those turnovers to tie the game up at 41 each with 11:09 to play.

The game remained a tightly contested battle, with neither team gaining a double-digit lead. Every shot was seemingly answered quickly, and every possession felt like it could change the momentum of the entire game.

Missing from this story so far has been WSU’s freshman phenom Ace Glass. He was held scoreless for the first 32 minutes of play until he finally saw his first make with a three-pointer to give WSU the lead. That was the spark he needed as he proceeded to rattle off eight straight points for the Cougars. On the other end though, the Braves were able to keep up with Glass’s makes to keep the game from getting out of hand.

Yet again, WSU’s turnover bug continued to haunt them as a Thrastarson turnover, the team’s 20th of the game, led to a fastbreak that was only stopped by a foul to send the Braves to the line with 3:19 to play. Montana Wheeler only made one of two shots, keeping WSU in front.

Out of a timeout with 1:11 remaining and down three, Bradley swung the ball around until they found an open Burch with the shot clock winding down. Burch fired and found the bottom of the net to tie the game at 60. With a chance to answer, WSU got the ball down low to Okafor, who rose up and had a good look close to the rim, but the ball did a lap around the rim and fell out.

Bradley rebounded the miss and called their final timeout after getting the ball across the halfcourt line. The Braves drew up the perfect play in the timeout that sprung Ahmet Jonovic wide open underneath for an easy dunk to give the Braves the lead with 19 seconds remaining. Needing an answer with the shot clock turned off, Rihards Vavers tried to drive to the rim and put up a contested shot from close but missed it off the rim. The Braves put the game away with a pair of free throws from Alex Huibregtse.

The Cougars will finally return to Beasley Coliseum on Sunday, playing host to the Nevada Wolfpack.