PULLMAN — Andrew Andrews finished a memorable performance in memorable fashion Sunday night at Beasley Coliseum.
Andrews capped a career-high, 35-point game by draining a game-winning 3-point basket with 2.7 seconds left in Washington’s 87-84 victory over Washington State.
Afterwards, Andrews seemed as calm describing his clutch shot as he appeared to be when taking it.
“Any time I shoot, I feel like all of them are going to drop,” he said casually.
The Huskies (15-11, 4-10 Pac-12) snapped a seven-game losing streak after surviving a thrilling second half that featured 10 ties and seven lead changes. Andrews scored 23 points after halftime.
“I’m just glad we got the win,” Andrews said. “I was tired of losing.”
DaVonte Lacy led the Cougars (11-15, 5-8) with 23 points. Josh Hawkinson added 17 points and 14 rebounds. Que Johnson came off the bench to score a season-high 16 points, but his desperation heave from near midcourt fell short at the final horn.
Andrews fired the winning shot from high on the right side of the court after taking a feed from Nigel Williams-Goss. The latter waited until less than 10 seconds remained before he put the offense into motion after Johnson had tied the game by sinking two free throws with 36.7 seconds to go.
“There’s not a lot of negative I can say about the game,” WSU coach Ernie Kent said, “outside of the fact that the last possession was a tough one because we had the right defense on the floor, did not rotate quick enough and to their credit, they hit a big shot.”
Kent stressed, “The game did not come down to the last possession. I thought the game was lost for us in the first half.”
Kent said his team’s season-long defensive lapses continued when Washington rallied late in the first half to cut an 11-point deficit to four at halftime. Williams-Goss scored seven of his 20 points in the final 2 minutes, 23 seconds of the half. He finished with a game-high six assists and had just one of Washington’s season-low three turnovers.
“He dominated the game,” Lacy said.
“Nigel was exceptional,” Kent agreed.
The Cougars lost despite shooting 61.9 percent from the field in the second half and 55.3 percent for the game. The Huskies shot 50 percent, including 57.1 percent in the final half.
Andrews went 11 for 18, including 6 for 12 on 3-pointers. All four statistics are career highs. The junior guard sank all seven of his free throws.
The Huskies had a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers. Washington State made 12 turnovers before a season-high crowd of 5,567.
TIP-INS
Washington: The Huskies, ranked 13th in the nation in December, are 11th in the Pac-12 with four conference games to go.
Washington State: Josh Hawkinson, a Huskies fan while growing up in the Seattle area, was not recruited by Washington. The sophomore forward was leading the Pac-12 at the start of Sunday play with 10.5 rebounds per game.
CLOSE ONES
Washington has defeated WSU in eight of the past 10 meetings, but seven of the past eight games have been decided by five points or less. That includes WSU’s 80-77 win at Washington on Jan. 10.
WELCOME BACK
Forward Jernard Jarreau started for Washington in his first game since missing 10 contests due to arthroscopic knee surgery. Jarreau had six points and four rebounds in 28 minutes.
UP NEXT
Washington visits UCLA on Wednesday.
Washington State visits USC on Wednesday.
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