Career effort from Washington gives Pacific first WCC win since 2023

Texas Tech transfer finished with 40 including game-winning three in OT

On a night when your leading scorer goes out with an injury on the first play of the game, three of your top players foul out, the opponent has 16 offensive rebounds, whistles mysteriously don’t go your way, especially down the stretch - not to mention a skewed 26-15 foul count/36 opponent free throws and the home crowd is in a frenzy, it would almost be a given that a team with a 20 game conference and 9 game losing streak overall would wilt and go away. But 6’4” Lamar Washington - aided primarily by 6’3” Petar Krivokapic and 6’3” Jefferson Koulibaly - would not let the Pacific Tigers die and the result was a gritty, dramatic 95-94 OT victory over Washington State (13-4, 3-1) in Pullman.

Lamar Washington carried the Tigers offensively for virtually the entire game, culminating his career night by knocking down a three from the right corner as the game clock expired in overtime, sending the Pacific sidelines into a frenzy and even squeezing out a wide grin from the face of Head Coach Dave Smart. Washington finished with 40 points (4-6 from downtown), 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals while playing all 45 minutes in a tour de force effort.

The deck was stacked against Pacific after the very first possession of the night when, after taking a nice feed from Washington on a slick basket cut and then hammering down a two-handed dunk, 6’7” Elias Ralph came down awkwardly and appeared to strain his hip/back area. Ralph came out after that single possession and did not return - his status for Saturday’s home affair against Oregon State is not known.

Krivokapic immediately entered the game for Ralph and went the entire rest of the way, knocking down a pair of early threes that helped build a ten-point Pacific lead early. Petar also provided his now-usual strong effort on the defensive glass and offensively attacked the harder WSU close-outs resulting from his early makes to finish with 18 points on 5-10 shooting from the floor including 3-6 from three. Most importantly, his work on the defensive end continues to improve - it is apparent with how well he is dealing with being run through screens and when muscling inside against larger players.

6’6” Elijah Fisher had 8 early points before committing a bad foul on a jump shooter for his second and had to sit with 6 minutes left in the first half. Fouls plagued Fisher all night - he played just 22 minutes and had just two points after halftime, finishing with 10 and without a single trip to the free throw line.

Pacific had numerous occasions to wilt and go away, starting with the Ralph injury but also including getting a breakaway lay-up blocked, followed by a three from which Tigers fought through early. It is getting clearer that the Tigers best defensive lineup has to include 6’10” Burke Smith - while the senior rarely threatens on the offensive end, his ability to defend the ball screen, put a body on opponents in the paint and compete on the glass makes him the best defensive five-man Pacific has at present. Burke also had an important early dunk in the OT after slipping a mid-ball screen.

While Koulibaly did force the issue on occasion offensively, his steadily improving work on the defensive end was again on display in this game. Jefferson had 6 steals and his instincts in that area are a growing positive for the Tigers.

Offensively, the Tigers wanted to get out and run against a Cougars group with plenty of size up front - Lamar’s wide-open three that started with a rare one-and-done on the defensive end (Burke’s first defensive possession) gave Pacific a 19-15 lead 7 1/2 minutes in and the confidence that they could play without their leading scorer.

6’8” Solomon Ominu got early time last night as the first big off the bench and the freshman proceeded to mess up a ball screen coverage on his very first defensive possession. WSU Head Coach Riley and the Cougars put Solo in the ball screen on virtually every possession during his first shift - Coach Smart quickly went to Smith and with only 7 minutes gone, the Tigers had already used three different players at the five. Ominu did compete on the glass and got a WCC season-high 16 minutes amid Smith’s foul trouble - Burke ended up fouling out also.

7’0” Jazz Gardner simply has not institutionalized the basics of what Coach is trying to do defensively - highlighted on the very first Wazzu possession where he got caught up in a staggered screen, allowing Cougars Ethan Price to bang an open three, getting the 6’10” SR forward started toward a season-high 28 points - his third 20+ game in the past four. The slick Englishman wing has an extremely quick release on his three and works inside but was the recipient of some favorable whistles, especially late - arguably aided by some hard lobbying with the officials. But Price is a solid perimeter player at 6’10” - he was at 19 points including 7 since the break when he took a bad T with 3 1/2 gone in the second half that gave the Tigers some momentum more importantly breaking his.

But the story was Washington who continually got into the lane under control and generally dealt well with the double teams that WSU threw at him as the game progressed. Petar was outstanding as a secondary decision maker and on the defensive end, playing 44 minutes and finishing with 18 points.

Washington was especially large in the overtime amid a parade to the foul line for Wazzu (8 of their 10 OT points came from the stripe), scoring Pacific’s final 7 points which brought the Tigers back from a 5-point deficit with just 1:04 remaining in what was a herculean effort.

A legendary effort from our point guard and the resiliency and growing work of those around him bode well for the remainder of the WCC regular season. Let’s see how the Tigers bounce back after this emotionally draining victory this coming Saturday back at home against Oregon State (12-5, 2-2). The Beavers just dropped a similarly emotional contest, giving up a four-point lead in overtime and losing 82-81 to Santa Clara on a last second tip-in. OSU also has home wins over Portland (by 10) and San Diego (by 27) sandwiched between a 21-point loss at Loyola Marymount. Game time on Saturday is 7 PM PT.