Pac-10 bottom feeder Washington State failed last night in its bid to beat an above-average Western Athletic Conference team.

But the Cougars didn't fail miserably. They put up a fight in their season finale and avoided being severely beaten by bowl-bound Hawaii in a 24-10 loss at Aloha Stadium.

Using five defensive backs, Washington State had solid coverage on the Warriors' receivers for most of the night and put on enough of a rush to continuously flush UH quarterback Greg Alexander from the pocket. The Cougars eventually sacked him seven times.

The problem in the early going for the WSU defense, however, was that Alexander escaped trouble and either threw pinpoint passes to formerly covered receivers or ran for key first downs to guide Hawaii to two early touchdowns.

After that, the game was evenly played—10 points each.

“;We couldn't control their quarterback,”; Washington State coach Paul Wulff said. “;He scrambled out of trouble. We did some good things defensively. It's unfortunate we gave up some big plays and didn't have enough firepower on offense to counteract that.”;

The only costly mistake Washington State's defense made in the second half was when UH's Michael Washington burned the coverage on a post pattern for a 44-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Alexander.

“;We played a cover-2 on that and our Mike 'backer and our safety didn't get deep enough,”; Cougars co-defensive coordinator Chris Ball said.

Washington State defensive end Kevin Kooyman, who had one of the seven sacks, was happy with the team's defensive performance but was disappointed with the big plays.

“;We kept the pressure on and kept him out of the pocket and those seven sacks are a great accomplishment,”; he said.

Losing by 14 was something new for the Cougars (2-11). Their 10 other losses were by 25 points or more.

“;It's horrible that we didn't win the last game for our seniors,”; junior defensive end Andy Mattingly said.

Wulff shook his head in disbelief after finishing up his first season at the helm.

“;It's been a long year, a year of everything imaginable, from injuries to inexperience, to finding ways to lose games,”; he said. “;That part has been tough.”;

One play will stick out in Wulff's mind—when Matt Eichelberger blocked Dan Kelly's fourth-quarter field-goal try and Devin Giles recovered the loose ball, began to run it back, got stopped and pitched it too high for Chima Nwachukwu. Hawaii recovered the loose ball in WSU territory.

“;We teach that, you know,”; he said, jokingly. “;No. That was a microcosm of our whole deal this year.”;