Stanford men’s basketball (15-6, 6-3 Pac-12) could not overcome foul trouble and second-half offensive woes, losing 89-88 at Washington State (10-11, 4-5) on Saturday.

The Cardinal echoed their hot start against Washington on Wednesday, getting off to a 29-15 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game and shooting over 70 percent from the field. Crisp passing on the perimeter set up multiple open 3-point looks for senior guard Anthony Brown and junior forward Rosco Allen. Sophomore guard Marcus Allen looked particularly lively on offense, getting to the basket on explosive baseline cuts.

As the first half came to a close, Stanford’s offense started to stagnate, settling for contested shots from isolations instead of creating space off of screens and cuts.

Washington State was able to come back on the strength of aggressive play from guard Que Johnson, ending the half up 42-41. With Brown, Stanford’s best perimeter defender, guarding DaVonté Lacy, Johnson scored 12 points in the first half. The Cardinal’s post defense suffered when senior center Stefan Nastic checked out after picking up two fouls with nine minutes left in the half. In Nastic’s absence, WSU’s Johnson and Josh Hawkinson were especially aggressive, shooting a majority of the Cougars’ 20 first-half free throw attempts.

To start the second half, Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins experimented with a few different defensive alignments to control the Cougars. He moved Brown off Cougars star guard Lacy and onto Johnson. However, Lacy caught fire to start the half, hitting two quick threes and extending the Cougars’ lead. Stanford found its offensive touch five minutes into the half, when senior guard Chasson Randle caught fire. Randle fought through the surprisingly stout Cougar defense with dazzling step-back threes and quick drives to the rim. When it seemed Stanford could do nothing else on offense, Randle almost single-handedly kept the Cardinal in the game, finishing with 33 points.

Although Lacy and Randle both turned in elite performances for their teams, the Cougars’ star had more support from the rest of his team. Hawkinson and Jordan Railey were strong on the offensive glass, securing several key rebounds off long misses. Although Johnson cooled off after his quick start, guards Ny Redding and Ike Iroegbu were able to help take some of the Cardinal’s defensive attention off of Lacy. Apart from Randle, Stanford was not able to get any contributions from its other starters.

“One man’s not going to win a game for you,” Dawkins told the Cardinal Sports Network. “I thought we had too many guys watching Chasson score.”

Nastic continued to struggle with fouls, and had to be replaced by freshmen Reid Travis and Michael Humphrey for most of the half. Meanwhile, Brown and Rosco Allen were not able to replicate their hot shooting from the first half.

Despite the Cardinal’s struggles on offense, they were able to keep the game close for most of the half. With five minutes left in the game, Washington State was able to pull away on the strength of Hawkinson and Lacy. Lacy’s jumper with just under four minutes left gave the Cougars a 78-70 lead. Although Randle and Brown were able to consistently get to the line down the stretch, Stanford could not stop Lacy, who finished with 25 points. After briefly moving to a 3-2 zone, Stanford mostly matched Randle on Lacy, keeping Brown on Que Johnson even though his length neutralized Lacy early in the game.

With under two minutes left in the game and the Cardinal down by six, Stanford had to resort to fouling Washington State and relying on missed free throws. The Cougars did not oblige, with Iroegbu and Redding each hitting two clutch free throws to seal the win for Washington State. A late three by freshman guard Dorian Pickens brought the game to one point, but it was not enough to prevent Stanford from dropping their third conference game.

Stanford next plays UCLA at Maples Pavilion on Thursday, as they look to remain in third place in the Pac-12.

Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu.