Cougars Turn Over Another Defeat Washington State’s Solid Defense Betrayed Again

Washington State settled into a familiar and predictable rut Thursday night, playing its opponent evenly until it mattered most, when turnovers became a deciding factor in another Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball defeat.

California was the beneficiary, claiming a 69-60 victory before a crowd of 8,125 at the former Coliseum, which has since become the upscale New Arena in Oakland, which is where the Bears are playing during the $40 million renovation of Harmon Gym, which has since become Haas Pavilion.

If the venue was a bit confusing, the outcome seemed all too clear.

The Cougars, averaging a conference-worst 19.4 turnovers per game, committed 22 more against the Bears.

Cal, trailing 44-41 with 11:54 remaining, used six WSU turnovers to take a 57-48 lead with 4:13 left.

“I didn’t think Cal created our turnovers, either,” WSU coach Kevin Eastman added. “I thought we gave them the basketball a great portion of the time.”

WSU’s turnovers negated another solid defensive effort. The Cougars entered the game holding opponents to 42.6 percent shooting, second only to 10th-ranked Stanford among Pac-10 teams.

Geno Carlisle, Cal’s leading scorer with an 18.8 average, managed only five against WSU. He scored 31 in Saturday’s 87-84 loss to then-No. 9 UCLA, and he was averaging 23.5 in Cal’s last four games.

Thomas Kilgore, who had 21 points and eight assists in Cal’s 86-75 victory at WSU last month, was held to 11 points and two assists on 3-for-13 shooting.

Cal matched WSU’s defensive effort, especially on the perimeter. The Cougars made only 4 of 17 3-pointers. Whenever Chris Crosby, Blake Pengelly, Kab Kazadi or Steve Slotemaker squared up for 3, Cal had the quickness to get a hand up.

Kilgore finished with five steals.

“The bottom line is that when you hold Washington State to 36 percent shooting (23-63), your defense did some good things,” offered Cal coach Ben Braun, whose team improved to 6-7 in the Pac-10 and 10-10 overall.

The first half was dizzying in its ineptitude.

When WSU (2-12, 9-16) and Cal weren’t making errant passes, they were flinging up errant shots. They combined to make 20 of 56 field goals while committing 21 turnovers. The Cougars committed 13 of those miscues, and yet they trailed just 29-27 at the half.

Cal center Sean Marks, one of the Pac-10’s largest players at 6-foot-11 and 255 pounds, symbolized the first-half malaise by clanking two leisurely 3-pointers.

Braun took notice, and Marks, averaging 9.5 points and 7.9 rebounds, played 4 minutes in the second half.

Marks and freshman Sean Lampley combined to make 3 of 12 first-half shots while playing rat-ball defense on WSU’s Leif Nelson, who hit 3 of 4 jump hooks and pulled down six boards.

The 6-11, 270-pound Nelson, playing his best game of the season, finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and only one turnover.

“It’s too bad when you have individual success and it’s not accompanied by team success,” Nelson said. “Turnovers were definitely the deciding factor in tonight’s game.”

The turnover troubles have often been traced to a lack of quickness in the backcourt. This time, the problems started up front: forwards Kojo Mensah-Bonsu and Carlos Daniel combined for 11 giveaways.

Daniel, who missed last weekend’s victory over Oregon State with a badly sprained ankle, had 13 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes. Mensah-Bonsu added 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

With Marks on the bench after halftime, Cal was represented well by the 6-7 Lampley (10 points, 11 rebounds) and 7-footer Francisco Elson (10 and 9).

California 69, Washington St. 60

Washington St. (9-16) - Daniel 5-13 3-5 13, Slotemaker 1-5 2-2 4, Nelson 5-7 1-2 11, Pengelly 1-6 0-0 3, Kazadi 1-7 0-0 2, Crosby 3-9 1-3 10, Hutchens 1-3 0-0 2, Mensah-Bonsu 5-11 3-4 13, Stewart 1-1 0-0 2, Clark 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 10-16 60.

California (10-12) - Lampley 4-11 2-4 10, R. Jones 2-6 2-2 6, Elson 3-7 4-9 10, Kilgore 3-13 4-6 11, Carlisle 2-8 0-0 5, Marks 4-9 4-5 12, King 3-5 3-5 9, K. Jones 2-2 2-2 6. Totals 23-61 21-33 69.

Halftime-California 29, Washington State 27. 3-Point goals- Washington St. 4-17 (Crosby 3-8, Pengelly 1-4, Slotemaker 0-2, Kazadi 0-2, Hutchens 0-1), California 2-11 (Carlisle 1-4, Kilgore 1-5, Marks 0-1, Lampley 0-1). Fouled out -Pengelly, Kadazi. Rebounds-Washington St. 48 (Nelson 9), California 40 (Lampley 11). Assists-Washington St. 14 (Pengelly 4), California 11 (King 3). Total fouls-Washington St. 21, California 18. A-8,125.

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