Takeaway
An unlikely, last-moment dagger again struck the Huskies, this time dealing a likely mortal blow to their shot at an NCAA tourney at-large bid. Oregon State nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to win 82-81 (box) at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis Wednesday night. Senior guard Andrew Andrews scored 30 points for the sixth time this season, but missed a free throw with five seconds left, leaving the door open for the Beavers.
Essential moment
At: 05, Andrews was fouled at the far end of the court and took the long walk to the charity stripe. Andrews sank the first, missed the second and the ball went out of play to OSU. The in-bounds pass at 3.3 seconds was given to freshman guard Stephen Thompson Jr., who sprinted down the floor under pressure from Dejounte Murray and heaved up a shot as time expired, traveling in the process. The referees missed the call, the ball went in and fans rushed the floor to celebrate re-taking a game in the final second the Beavs seemed to have given away.
Huskies (16-12, 8-8 Pac-12)
Andrews finished 9-of-14 from the field, including a career-high tying six three-point field goals. Murray scored 15, while Marquese Chriss contributed 14.
Washington, which led 79-73 wih 2:06 left, shot 56.6 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three-point range.
Beavers (16-10, 7-8 Pac-12)
The Beavers out-rebounded the Huskies 41-25, including 15-2 on offense. Thompson. had 18 points in 22 minutes. Drew Eubanks had 17 points and 10 boards, while Tres Tinkle and Gary Payton II scored 16 and 15, respectively.
Words
“This is completely my fault . . . I put that on my shoulders, I let my team down in that regard.” – Andrews on the missed free throw.
Next
Washington travels to Eugene to play conference leader No. 13 Oregon (22-5, 11-4 Pac-12) at Matthew Knight Arena Sunday at 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
7 Comments
Another Romar failure
The clock did not start on time, the guy traveled. It takes guts to make the travel call. That being said, poor defense at the end, poor free throw shooting, in the clutch.
Can’t leave yourself vulnerable to a bad, last-second call, or non-call.
There is no question that Thompson traveled! It was right out in front of everybody and it should have been called. The Refs didn’t miss it, they just didn’t call it! It’s unfortunate!
Trump should change his slogan to “Make Pac12 refs great again.”
If refs stuck to the letter of the rule, they could call travelling on almost every trip downcourt.
Sure, Andrew’s free throw hurt but when you score 30 like he did, he didn’t cost his team that game.