Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Halve-Nots: Cougars Struggle in Second Halves

The Cougar men’s basketball team outscored opponents in the first half this weekend 78-52, yet managed to come home winless. The Cougars were leading Stanford by 15 and Pac-10 leader Cal by 11 at the half, but couldn’t hold on in either game to seal a victory. Both games were close late; Stanford’s Jeremy Green hit a game-winner with 4.6 seconds left to clinch a 60-58 Cardinal victory. Then on Saturday, Cal scored the final 15 points of the game, turning a one-point lead into an 86-70 rout with four minutes remaining.

Dropping both road games was crippling for the Cougars, who now sit 5-8 in conference play. This means Washington State is four games behind conference-leading Cal and in eighth place. With only five league games remaining, it appears the Cougars will need to start playing all 40 minutes, and enter the Pac-10 tournament hot in order to earn an automatic bid, likely their only ticket to the Big Dance.

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