This post was updated March 3 at 10:57 p.m.

Mick Cronin said he intended to file a report with the NCAA after a flurry of foul calls mere seconds into his team’s game against Washington two days ago. 

But it appears his complaint has not yet reached the right desk. 

Frequent and lopsided whistles continued to characterize the Bruins’ Pacific Northwest visit in a contest featuring 24 fouls to the Cougars’ 13. And after redshirt sophomore guard Will McClendon was ejected for a flagrant two call, sophomore forward/center Adem Bona fouled out of the contest – his Achilles’ heel extending to the rest of his team. 

UCLA men’s basketball (14-15, 9-9 Pac-12) extinguished a chance at its first ranked victory of the season Saturday, relinquishing an early 13-point lead to No. 19 Washington State (23-7, 14-5) in a 77-65 loss. Conceding 33 free throw attempts to their 11, the Bruins couldn’t convert their 47% field goal percentage into any sizable second-half advantage and lost steam down the stretch with just two field goals in the final nine minutes of play.

“We came out strong. We hit first. It felt good to be able to do that,” sophomore guard Dylan Andrews – who posted 14 of his 21 points in the first half – told reporters after the game. “But basketball’s a game full of runs, so especially playing Washington State, … they’re going to go on their run, and that’s what they did. I feel like we failed to adjust that.”

Cronin reflected on the deja vu to the Arizona game where UCLA allowed a double-digit lead to slip away in a battle with the whistles.

“The same thing happened at Arizona,” Cronin said. “You can’t run your offense. You can’t set a pick and roll. … Every foul’s on us.”

Back from the bench after his third foul, Bona buoyed the Bruins early in the second half after his team entered the break down eight. His teammates found him under the basket on three consecutive possessions in a five-point swing featuring back-to-back dunks and two free throws to bring his team within one point.

But after Bona logged his third foul with 15:56 to play, Aday Mara made an immediate impact in both Bona and redshirt senior forward/center Kenneth Nwuba’s absences. 

The freshman center from Spain collected four combined points off his baseline hook shot and from the free throw line and proceeded to deny the Cougars on the other end. After launching an outlet pass to freshman guard/forward Brandon Williams, who drove to the basket for a dunk, UCLA reclaimed a 54-51 lead.

But an untimely call from the officials proved detrimental to the Bruins’ tempo.

The three referees congregated on the sideline, replaying a moment when McClendon appeared to initiate excessive contact with Washington State forward Isaac Jones.

McClendon was subsequently ejected with a flagrant two foul as a dumbfounded UCLA squad looked on.

And Washington State lit up.

“It gave them extra motivation,” said junior guard Lazar Stefanovic. “And they went on a run.”

The Cougars ripped off a 22-7 tear across the rest of the game, and the Bruins floundered offensively as Andrews committed a turnover sandwiched between two shot clock violations.  

When Bona committed his final two fouls within 34 seconds, the writing was on the wall. 

Forward Jaylen Wells and guard Myles Rice buried the Bruins with a combined 10 points in the final 3 1/2 minutes to pour into their 27- and 18-point totals on the night, respectively. 

“They started driving the ball and beating us off the dribble,” Stefanovic said. “That changed a little bit of the rhythm of the game. They got some easy ones in transition, and that’s how they got fans involved. That’s how they got back in it.”

But Cronin attributed the breakdown to the Bruins’ efforts on the boards. UCLA grabbed 24 rebounds to Washington State’s 39 – 16 of which were offensive.

“You go on the road, shoot 47%, shoot 40% from three, shoot 82% from the foul line – it’s two straight games – defensively, we couldn’t get the job done on the backboard. That’s what killed us.”