Washington State hands Arizona Wildcats' first loss of season at McKale Center, 77-74

On the sort of electric McKale Center stage that's reserved for Arizona's biggest games, the Wildcats had a chance to take a commanding lead in the Pac-12 Thursday but instead handed over first place to the team that was picked to finish 10th.

Surging Washington State dealt Arizona its first loss at McKale this season, 77-74, after Cougar wing Jaylen Wells made a go-ahead four-point play with 24 seconds left and UA’s Caleb Love was forced to throw up an errant 45-footer as time expired.

Wells and Love each led their respective teams in scoring with 27 points.

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 now owns the Pac-12 Tournament tiebreaker because the Cougars also beat Arizona on Jan. 13 in Pullman.

“Obviously we had opportunities but they've been really good in close games all year,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “They’re a team on a roll right now and they were able to find a way. They made a bunch of clutch, big-time plays down the stretch.”

The biggest was a fallaway 3-pointer that Wells hit from the left corner to tie the game at 74, while picking up a foul from UA’s Keshad Johnson that allowed him also to make a go-ahead free throw.

WSU guard Myles Rice had missed a 3 earlier on the Cougars’ possession, but Andrej Jakimovski grabbed the rebound and found Wells in the corner, where he was surrounded by defenders, courtside fans and photographers alike.

“We hung around just enough, which you want to do on the road,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. "Down three (before Wells’ corner shot), they really defended us well. We were able to come up with that offensive rebound and Andrej had great awareness.

"Actually, I think the officials passed on a reach on the floor – thank you – and he found Jaylen, who got clipped and he made the shot.

"Kind of what you have to do to win down here. We were very fortunate.”

One of three former junior college players in WSU's starting lineup, Wells' four-point play gave WSU a 75-74 lead with 24 seconds left. He also hit two final free throws with 2.7 seconds left for the final score before Love’s desperation heave was unsuccessful.

While the game was played almost entirely within two possessions, with WSU leading by no more than seven points and UA by no more than four, the Cougars did have an easier time of it at McKale Center last season when they won 74-61.

Still, it was the first time the Cougars had swept the season series against UA since 2009-10, former UA coach Sean Miller’s first season with the Wildcats.

After Arizona’s final possession failed, the Cougars’ bench stormed the floor while the stunned, near-capacity crowd filed quietly out of McKale Center after having stood on its feet for much of the game, waving red glo-sticks placed on seats beforehand.

Several WSU players and coaches, many with Arizona-based family and friends on hand, stuck around for an hour after the game to celebrate. Also, assistant coach Jeremy Harden, a UA graduate, was lifted up by a Cougar players after it was revealed he had just successfully proposed to his girlfriend in the aftermath of WSU's win.

It was Arizona’s first loss at McKale Center all season and only the third under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd.

It was a party for Washington State, which was only one of two schools left after the Pac-12’s implosion last summer.

“Incredible win for our program,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “Our guys just gutted it out. They’re really hard to defend, and they opened up the second half with some transition.”

That's for sure. Trailing 34-33 at halftime, Arizona began the second half looking like it was just starting to do its thing, with two early alley-oop dunks from Johnson helping UA 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 by blocking Jones, leading 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, the Cougars showed the kind of poise on both ends of the court that helped them ultimately win the game.

Johnson raced from behind WSU guard Myles Rice to block his fast-break layup but, while Johnson’s momentum carried him out of bounds, WSU forward Kymany Houinsou picked up the ball and slammed it.

That gave WSU a 60-55 lead before UA center Oumar Ballo had a layup and two free throws, helping UA tie the game at 60 with 6:30 to go. The game was played almost entirely within one possession from there, and the score was tied at 71 heading into the final minute after the Wildcats’ defense forced Wells to throw up an errant 3-pointer.

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Ballo pulled down the rebound, leading to a driving layup from Love, who drew a foul and converted the and-one free throw to give UA a 74-71 lead. Then the Wildcats nearly shut down the Cougars on the other end, with guard Myles Rice missing a 3-pointer before Jakimovski pulled down the rebound to assist on Wells’ game-winning play.

The Cougars wound up shooting 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.

In the first half, Love scored 17 points but Arizona trailed WSU 34-33 at halftime. The game was competitive and tense from the beginning, with the Cougars taking an early 9-8 lead at the first media timeout after UA committed three turnovers in the first four minutes.

WSU led most of the first half but never by more than seven points. 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.

That turned out to somewhat foreshadow the end of the game, a difficult one for the Wildcats and one that they had all of 36 hours to shake off before hosting Washington on Saturday at noon.

“We’re a good team. I believe in these guys,” Lloyd said. “We just lost to another good team that's on a roll right now. I don't think it’s anything more than that, and we have an obligation to try to come out and play really well on Saturday.

"That's our job. No one's gonna feel sorry for us. I certainly don’t.”

Photos: Arizona falls in a nailbiter to Washington State 77-74 in a Top 25 match-up, Pac-12 basketball