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Harmeling helps Washington St. down reeling Arizona

Feb 2, 2007 - 7:24 AM TUCSON, Arizona (Ticker) -- Daven Harmeling's continued success over Arizona led to an historic first.

Harmeling scored six of his 12 points in the final 19 seconds as No. 17 Washington State held on for a 72-66 victory over the 22nd-ranked Wildcats in a Pac-10 Conference contest.

Winning for the second time in their last three trips here, the Cougars (18-4, 7-3 Pac-10) swept the season series for the first time.

Much of the credit for the surprising wins goes to Harmeling, who recorded a career-high 28 points, including seven 3-pointers, in a 77-73 home win over then-No. 7 Arizona on January 6.

Although the sophomore forward only had 12 points in this one, he picked the ideal time to get half of them. With Washington State nursing a 66-64 lead, Harmeling connected on his only 3-pointer on four attempts with 19 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats' Marcus Williams came back with two free throws six seconds later, but Harmeling sealed the win with a three-point play with seven seconds left after teammate Robbie Cowgill broke a full-court press by streaking up the left sideline.

Despite lacking Arizona's athleticism, Washington State once again overcame any shortcoming it might have by doing a superb job running a high-percentage offense and protecting the ball.

That fact was evident in the first half as the Wildcats outscored the Cougars in the paint, 22-2, but still trailed, 36-33.

"(Washington State) did the same kind of job they have done all year round," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "They spread the defense around and they can all shoot the ball and they create a lot of problems if they can hit that outside shot.

"In the first half we outscored them in the paint, but the problem is that they shot the ball well in every phase: 51 percent from the field, 50 percent from the (3-point arc) and they did not miss a free throw."

The Cougars went on to finish 51 percent (28-of-55) from the field, including 7-of-14 on 3-pointers, committed just six turnovers.

"As you look at it, WSU does a great job of taking care of the ball," Olson said. "(Kyle) Weaver had six assists and no turnovers and (Derrick) Low is a handful when he runs off of the screens. We had eight first-half turnovers and two in the second half, they only had six for the game."

Ivory Clark had 18 points and seven rebounds and Low scored 13 for the Cougars, who overcame a 32-12 deficit in points in the paint and 33-23 shortcoming on the boards in bouncing back from an overtime loss to then-No. 7 Oregon on Saturday.

Freshman Chase Budinger had 19 points for Arizona (14-7, 5-5), which lost for the fifth time in its last six games.

Lack of offense has been one of the top problems during the Wildcats' slide and Thursday was no exception, as they shot 36 percent (8-of-22) in the second half and finished 4-of-19 on 3-pointers.

"It's a big shock," said Budinger, who finished 8-of-18 from the floor. "All of a sudden we can't hit shots anymore. I can't say why. There's no explanation. It's like a curse."

Mustafa Shakur finished with 13 points despite 3-of-10 shooting and handed out seven assists and Williams - the team's leading scorer - was held to 12 on 4-of-11 from the field for Arizona.

"We need a win," Wildcats guard Jawann McClellan said. "That's something I thought I would never say here. We have to come out Saturday and get it done."