Oh, how the chips fall; WSU men’s basketball bounced in first round

The Cougars put all their chips in hoping luck would be on their side. Instead, the Stanford Cardinal played a better game and walked away with the Cougars chips and a 74-63 victory.

The Cougars knew they had to win this game in order to keep their season alive, and they played every possession like it was their last.

After struggling in the win against UCLA Saturday, WSU junior guard DaVonte Lacy knew he had to be in the game if the Cougars were to have a chance against the Cardinal. Lacy started off the game for the Cougars by scoring five points in the first five minutes. Entering the first media timeout the Cougars trailed Stanford by only two points and continued to fight.

WSU would take their first lead of the game with less than 14 minutes to play in the first half after Lacy knocked down a 3-pointer and put his team up by two points. WSU redshirt junior guard Dexter Kernich-Drew contributed seven points in the first half as well.

The Cardinal would not go away, thanks to their junior guard Chasson Randle. Randle scored 14 points in the first half against the Cougars, which helped the Cardinal take a 35-28 point lead at the halfway mark. Stanford redshirt junior center Stefan Nastic was another player the Cougars could not contain after scoring six points in the first half.

The second half looked at lot like the beginning of the game for WSU. The Cougars opened up with aggressive drives to the basket and as a result made trips to the free throw line.

Lacy scored eight quick points in the first half and was feeling it again early in the second, scoring seven points in the opening four minutes.

The Cougars traded baskets with the Cardinal, keeping the game relatively close. A redshirt junior guard Royce Woolridge layup gave WSU the lead, 50-47 with more than nine minutes to play. Stanford senior forward Dwight Powell answered with a 3-pointer, and the Cougars would fail to ever see a lead again. Stanford started to stretch the lead with about eight minutes left.

Cardinal redshirt junior guard Anthony Brown, who scored a career-high 30 points in the last meeting against Washington State, sparked the scoring for the Cardinal by hitting a 3-pointer to push the lead to 57-50

Lacy became the 34th Cougar to score 1,000 points in his career with his first field goal of the game, according to WSU Athletics. He now has 1,023 points and ranks 34th all-time in the WSU career record books. Lacy finished with four 3-pointers and moved on to WSU’s single-season list for 3-pointers made. He is tied for eighth with Klay Thompson (2010) with 76 3-pointers this season.

After the game WSU Head Coach Ken Bone said he has not been told anything about his future at Washington State but did say he would like to continue with the program.