What goes up must come down. At least in terms of Arizona’s shooting percentage.

No. 7 Arizona shot a cool 38.8 percent in a 77-73 overtime loss at Washington State Saturday night after it shot a blistering 65 percent in a win over No. 24 Washington on Thursday.

Washington State’s deliberate style of play can often be synonymous with a trap game. And the Wildcats (12-2, 3-1 Pacific 10 Conference) fell into the trap, falling behind early and scrambling late, but in the end WSU forward Daven Harmeling’s 28 points were too much to overcome.

“”We talked about it beforehand, he’s a great 3-point shooter, and you can’t give him any looks,”” UA assistant coach Josh Pastner said. “”And he got some open looks, and he was just on fire.””

The Cougars (14-2, 3-1) scored the first six points of overtime and Arizona failed to counter, turning the ball over and heaving poor shots before Washington State fans rushed the court in Pullman, Wash., to celebrate the Wildcats’ first loss since their season opener at Virginia Nov. 12 and the end of Arizona’s 12-game winning streak.

“”We’re disappointed, but they’re a very, very good team,”” Pastner said. “”We lost to a very good team. They were better than us tonight. They deserved to win. We played poorly, they played great.””

Washington State had beaten Arizona only once in the teams’ last 42 meetings, but the win gives the Cougars their second victory over the Wildcats in three years. Harmeling’s hot shooting (9-of-15, 7-of-11 3-pointers) was reminiscent of then-senior guard Thomas Kelati’s outing two years ago in Tucson when Kelati had an almost identical performance (27 points, 9-of-14, 7-of-11) in a Cougar upset of Arizona.

Arizona was down 66-59 with 46.2 seconds remaining in regulation after Harmeling made an NBA range 3-pointer and guard Kyle Weaver knocked down two free throws. UA forward Chase Budinger answered with a 3-pointer, and after WSU guard Derrick Low made 1-of-2 free throws, UA forward Marcus Williams made it a one-possession game with a putback.

Weaver missed two free throws and forward Ivan Radenovic tied the game at 67 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key off a Mustafa Shakur kick out.

Arizona even had a chance to win the game after Low committed a charge with 8.2 seconds left. But Shakur couldn’t find an opening and dished to Radenovic who didn’t come close with a long 3-point attempt.

“”All you can ask for is a chance to win the basketball game, and we had that chance,”” Pastner said. “”We didn’t get a good look at the basket, but we had our chance.””

Arizona fell down early, scoring just nine points in the first 11:24 and trailing 19-9. The Wildcats found their rhythm toward the end of the first half, outscoring the Cougars 18-5 over the last 8:36 to take a 27-24 halftime lead.

The Wildcats scored a season-low 27 points in the first half and shot a pedestrian 28.6 percent (6-of-21) on 3-pointers for the game.

“”We shot very poorly and, part of it was because of the defense, too,”” Pastner said. “”They did a great job defensively.””

Meanwhile, Harmeling, who scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half, was in a zone. He had two different spurts in the second half. In the first, he scored six straight Cougar points on two 3-pointers and followed seven minutes later with eight straight Cougar points on a dunk and two 3-pointers.

Weaver added 15 points and forward Robbie Cowgill scored 13 points for Washington State, who won despite leading scorer Low shooting 1-of-12 from the field.

The senior point guard Shakur led the Wildcats with 19 points, to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists. Radenovic scored 18, and Williams had 17, while guard Jawann McClellan, who made six 3-pointers against Washington, did not make any in three attempts and scored just five points.

Arizona is currently in a four-way tie for the Pac-10 lead with the Cougars, UCLA, and USC.

And 1:

Bret Brielmaier (right knee) was not in attendance and was back in Tucson after getting hurt during a shootaround prior to Thursday’s game against Washington. Brielmaier is being tested by doctors and a decision regarding his future will likely be made by Monday.