Washington State stuns Arizona at McKale, claims Pac-12 first place spot

On an atmospheric stage at McKale Center in which Arizona could have taken a commanding lead in the Pac-12 race, the Wildcats instead handed over first place to the team that was picked to finish 10th.

Washington State handed Arizona its first loss at McKale this season, 77-74, when Caleb Love scored 27 points but was forced to throw up an errant shot from nearly halfcourt as time expired.

The loss dropped Arizona to 20-6 overall and 11-4, putting the Wildcats a half-game behind the Cougars (21-6 and 12-4). While the teams are tied in the loss column, WSU will own the tiebreaker between them because the Cougars also beat Arizona on Jan. 13 in Pullman.

The Cougars, sweeping the season series against the Wildcats, played with a poise throughout a game that was played mostly within two possessions.

With the game headed into the final minute tied at 71, the Wildcats’ defense forced WSU's Jaylen Wells to throw up an errant 3-pointer. After Oumar Ballo pulled down the rebound, Love drove inside for a layup and drew a foul.

Love hit the ensuing and-one to make it 74-71 but, after Myles Rice missed a 3-pointer, Wells hit a fadeaway 3 from the left corner as he was fouled by Johnson.

The 3-pointer tied the game at 74 with 24.6 seconds left and prompted UA to call a timeout, after which Wells hit the free throw to give WSU a 75-74 lead.

On UA's ensuing possession, Jones swatted away a shot inside from Love with 9.3 seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds and Arizona regained possession. Jaden Bradley then inbounded to Keshad Johnson, who passed to Love – but Love slipped as he drove to the basket and turned the ball over. WSU then inbounded to Wells, who was fouled and hit both free throws to give WSU a 77-74 lead.

While Wells went ot the line, one of the glo-sticks went onto the court and the fans were warned that throwing items on the court could result in a technical foul, an announcement that was met with boos.

After Wells’ shots, the Wildcats had 2.4 seconds to get a shot off. Kylan Boswell passed to Love along the sideline inside the halfcourt line but his last second 45-footer missed.

Wells finished with 27 points to lead the Cougars, who shot just 41.9% but had only nine turnovers and were outrebounded by only one. Arizona shot 44.8% but was just 5 of 18 from 3-point range and made just 17 of 27 free throws.

Arizona held a one-point lead with 2:39 to go but Wells hit a fadeaway 15-footer late in the shot clock to give WSU a 71-69 lead with 1:56 left before Johnson tied it at 71 with a short jumper from the left baseline with 91 seconds left.

Trailign 34-33 at halftime, Arizona used defense to set up two alley-oop dunks from Johnson to take a 43-39 lead three minutes into the second half.

Ballo first blocked a shot from Isaac Jones, leading to an alley-oop pass from Love to Johnson for a dunk that tied it at 38. Later, Johnson set up his own dunk, blocking Jones, which led to another alley-oop pass from Love that Johnson slammed in as he raced to the right of the rim.

But WSU went on a 10-1 run to take a 57-51 lead with nine minutes left and, after a 3-pointer from Love later brought the Wildcats within two points, showed their poise again when UA often melts other opponents down: Keshad Johnson raced from behind WSU guard Myles Rice to block his fast-break layup – but WSU forward Kymany Houinsou picked it up and slammed it in as Johnson’s momentum carried him out of bounds.

Houinsou’s dunk gave WSU a 60-55 lead but Cougars forward Isaac Jones committed his third and fourth fouls on consecutive possessions, the first on offense and the second while defending Johnson, who hit two free throws to give UA a brief 61-60 lead. WSU’s Jaylen Wells later hit a 3-pointer to give WSU a 67-63 lead but another from Love put the Wildcats back ahead 68-67 heading into the final media timeout with 2:39 left.

In the first half, Love scored 17 points but Arizona trailed WSU 34-33 at halftime.

Arizona and Washington State entered the game separated by only a half-game atop the Pac-12 race and the game quickly reflected the competitiveness of the two teams while McKale Center lit up with a loud near-capacity crowd that was given red glo-sticks before the game.

The Cougars set the tone right away, taking an early 9-8 lead at the first media timeout after UA committed three turnovers in the first four minutes. WSU took leads as high as seven points, 31-24 with 3:54 left, but the Wildcats scored six straight to pull within 31-30 with 2:18 left.

Love then hit a 25-footer to give UA a 33-32 lead with 47 seconds left while the McKale Center crowd stood on its feet, waving red-colored glo sticks that had been placed on every seat before the game. WSU’s Andrej Jakimovski picked up a foul from Pelle Larsson with 22 seconds left and hit both ensuing free throws to put the Cougars back in the lead at 34-33.

Love had a chance to give Arizona the lead heading into halftime but his final 3-point attempt with two seconds left bounced off the rim.

Love wound up shooting 5 for 11 from the field in the first half, making 2 of 7 3-pointers, and hitting all five free throws he took. Arizona shot 44.8% from the field as a team but made just 2 of 10 3-pointers.

The Cougars, who beat the Wildcats 73-70 on Jan. 13 in Pullman, shot just 39.4% but matched the Wildcats' 18 points in the paint, their switching defense making it difficult for Arizona to penetrate.

Arizona out rebounded WSU 21-17 but committed eight turnovers in the first half and hit just 5 of 10 free throws overall, with center Oumar Ballo and forward Keshad Johnson each missing both they took.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Washington State stuns Arizona at McKale, claims Pac-12 first place spot