KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman tailback Mike Bell was held to 25 yards on only 7 carries during Arizona's 21-13 loss to No. 9 WSU on Saturday. The Wildcats totaled minus 17 yards rushing, compared to 158 by WSU.

The words "pain," "loss" and "close" are becoming quite familiar around the Arizona locker room this season.

Those three words were said often Saturday night after the Wildcats suffered another tough defeat at the hands of No. 9 Washington State, 21-13, in Arizona Stadium before a Family Weekend crowd of 46,462.

"It hurts more and more every week," said senior wide receiver Bobby Wade. "We ended up on the short end of the stick again."

Arizona (3-5 overall, 0-4 Pacific 10 Conference) has not won a home Pac-10 game since its Oct. 14, 2000 victory against the Cougars, and has lost 15 of its last 17 conference games. The loss meant the Wildcats are still the only team in the Pac-10 without a conference win.

"We will do it," head coach John Mackovic said of winning a conference game this season. "The day will come."

Final Score: 21-13 First downs WSU: 24 Arizona: 14 Score by quarter   1 2 3 4 Final Washington St. (7-1, 4-0) 2 3 9 7 21 Arizona (3-5, 0-4) 0 10 3 0 13 Yards rushing WSU: 149 Arizona: 17 Rushes WSU: 45 Arizona: 21 Yards passing WSU: 275 Arizona: 224 Completions-Attempts WSU: 20-35 Arizona: 22-46 Penalties-Yards WSU: 7-51 Arizona: 6-65 Time of possession WSU: 32:53 Arizona: 27:07 Passing Arizona: Jason Johnson 22-46 224 yards 2 INT Washington State: Jason Gesser 20-35 275 yards 1 INT Rushing Arizona: Mike Bell 7-25, Beau Carr 5-24, Jason Johnson 8-(-63) Washington State: Jermaine Green 29-119, John Tippins 9-31 Receiving Arizona: Bobby Wade 9-83 Washington State: Mike Bush 4-57 Player of the Game Senior linebacker Lance Briggs ÷ He recorded a game-high 14 tackles, recovered a fumble and batted down two passes. Play of the Game Senior quarterback Jason Johnson was sacked bu Fred Shavies and fumbled at midfield with 7:37 left in the fourth quarter. WSU recovered, cutting short a potentially game-tying drive for Arizona and helping to seal the victory for the Cougars.

One thing Mackovic couldn't say was that his team didn't have plenty of chances to earn the upset. Down 21-13 with less than four minutes remaining, Wade dropped a ball that hit him in the chest and would have given Arizona a first down and kept the drive alive. WSU was able to run out the clock after the turnover on downs to preserve the victory.

"Our defense did all we could ask," Wade added. "They gave us a chance to win, and the offense didn't get the job done."

UA quarterback Jason Johnson was pressured on nearly every one of his career-high 46 attempts. The senior quarterback was sacked seven times and lost 56 yards, but the biggest sack came by defensive end Fred Shavies with 7:37 remaining. WSU defensive end Isaac Brown recovered the forced fumble by Shavies at the Arizona 32-yard line to set up the game-clinching touchdown.

"I was just trying to get away from (Shavies) and I just should have thrown the ball away so we could have punted," said Johnson, who was 22-42 for 224 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. "But once again, I was trying to make something out of nothing and the ball squirted out of there."

Four plays later, the Cougars' Jermaine Green broke out of a pack of four Wildcats for an 18-yard touchdown, giving WSU an eight-point lead.

Green finished with 119 of the 158 yards rushing for the Cougars on the night, compared to the Wildcats' minus 17 yards on the ground.

"We were able to shut down their running backs," WSU head coach Mike Price said. "Besides one juke by Wade, I thought we controlled them defensively."

The Cougars' win sets up a battle of the conference's only two unbeaten teams next week with Wazzu (7-1 overall, 4-0 Pac-10) playing host to Arizona State (7-2 overall, 4-0 Pac-10), who was a 27-16 winner over Washington on Saturday.

Gesser, who broke Jack Thompson's record for total offense, completed 20 of 35 for 275 yards, including a 16-yard scoring strike to Devard Darling, who broke free of freshman cornerback Darrell Brooks in the third quarter.

Sideline notes Mackovic had only two injuries to report yesterday ÷ one to sophomore defenseman Vince Fuela, who injured his knee on the last play of the game, and another to sophomore Fata Avegalio, who was not able to play because of a shoulder injury · Little-used junior college transfer James Molina was brought on to kick both punts and kickoffs. His first two punts were both cancelled due to WSU penalties. However, his only punt that counted went 52 yards · Johnson, from Puyallup, Wash., is 0-4 in his career as a starting quarterback against the two teams from his home state · The officials picked up four flags in the game · UA kicker Bobby Gill converted on two field goals of 47 and 42 yards. His previous career high was 26 · Arizona's first five rushing attempts Saturday: minus-2; minus-1; minus-3; gain of 3; loss of 15 on a fumble for a WSU safety · UA had 46 passes to 21 rushes · Mackovic said he did not consider using backup QB Nic Costa on Saturday night ·

"We made Jason Gesser, who is a terrific player, work for every single thing," Mackovic said. "I think there were some times when our defense had him off-rhythm, and I don't see that part of him very often."

Senior linebacker Lance Briggs was a big reason, as he led all defenders with 14 tackles, including three for losses. He also pushed WSU receiver Jerome Riley out of bounds one yard short of the end zone on a two-point try to keep the Cougars' lead at 14-13 in the third quarter.

"These games, we pour our hearts emotionally, physically and mentally; and not being able to hug your guys after a victory hurts," Johnson said.