Apr. 1—Down three, with five seconds left and one LeJuan Watts free throw to go, Washington State needed everything to go right.
And it did ... almost.
After missing the first free throw, Watts purposely banked his second attempt off the iron, ND Okafor wrapped his palms around the loose ball to secure the rebound and whipped it out to Rihards Vavers, who got the 3-point shot off before time expired and then put his head in his hands as the ball ricocheted off the rim.
Ball game. Season over.
Georgetown 85, WSU 82.
Watts paced the Cougars with 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals with a 7-for-10 shooting night, seniors Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup poured in 16 and 15 points respectively in the final games of their college careers and WSU led for over 34 minutes.
It proved to not be enough as the Cougars (19-15) fell victim to a breakout 37-point game from Georgetown sophomore guard Malik Mack, who sank eight 3-pointers to help the Hoyas (18-15) beat WSU in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown on Monday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
"We had some missed opportunities," said WSU assistant coach Donald Brady on WSU's radio postgame show. Brady spoke in place of WSU coach David Riley, who was not made available to local radio because of other tournament postgame media obligations.
Watts electric in new role
The Cougars' point guard Nate Calmese joined two-year Coug Isaiah Watts in the transfer portal last week. Freshman Marcus Wilson entered the portal as well.
With three players, including two starters, in the portal, LeJuan Watts stepped up as WSU's primary point guard.
"I wasn't worried about LeJuan being our point guard coming into it," Brady said. "He's one of the best passers I've ever been around."
LeJuan Watts' passing did not disappoint. The sophomore Eastern Washington transfer dished out five assists, including an early one in which he whipped the ball into Prices' hands from about three feet away, attracting the Hoyas' attention and clearing a wide-open lane for the senior from England to muscle his way in for a layup.
Return of the Mack
The Cougars once again fell victim to a single player getting more touches thanks to the unavailability of his teammates and torching WSU with a remarkable shooting night.
First, it was Lamar Washington of Pacific getting 40 points including the game winning 3-pointer in WSU's 95-94 overtime loss to the Tigers on Jan. 9.
On Monday, it was Malik Mack posting 37 points on a 13-for-24 night in which eight of his 13 makes were triples.
"Mack had an amazing game, and he did it in bunches," Brady said.
With WSU up by 10 with 4:07 left in the first half, Mack sank three straight 3s to produce a personal 9-0 run in the span of 47 seconds.
Two Hoyas free throws later and Georgetown had its first lead of the game at 36-35 with 1:25 left in the first half.
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"I just blanked out and played my game," Mack said in a postgame on-court interview with FS1. "That's what happened."
Seniors' last stand, freshmen opportunity
The Crown served as the last chance for Price and Erikstrup to play college basketball. Price has started every game of Riley's head coaching career between EWU and WSU.
With the light of life beyond college basketball at least a game away, the two seniors battled, turning in double-digit performances.
Price was a perfect 5-for-5 and Erikstrup was a spotless 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. The two combined for 10 rebounds and seven assists. Price produced a block and ...
