Men's Basketball | Hot-shooting Cougars triumph

EUGENE, Ore. — Maybe it was more symbolic than consequential, but this whole Washington State basketball phenomenon was encased in a three-second snapshot in the last half-minute here at McArthur Court.

Ahead by six Saturday, the Cougars were trying to drain away the last of the clock when Kyle Weaver threw an ill-advised home run pass toward Robbie Cowgill, breaking free on a run-out.

"He called me 'Eli,' " Weaver would say later with a snicker.

Unlike Eli Manning, the Super Bowl hero, Weaver overthrew Cowgill, who lunged past the end line and chucked the ball back ... to whom?

To guard Taylor Rochestie, who had decided it was more important to be savior than spectator. He bolted into frontcourt on Weaver's heave and was perfectly positioned to accept Cowgill's toss, and to finish the game with the last of his seven free throws in the final 73 seconds.

Washington State 62, Oregon 53.

"For all the hard work and banging around the 'bigs' did tonight," said Rochestie, "it was the least I could do to help."

This was one of those signal victories: WSU's first at McArthur Court since 1995, when the program began sliding somewhere beyond oblivion in the first year after Kelvin Sampson left.

It was WSU's 20th triumph against five losses, giving the Cougars back-to-back 20-victory seasons for the first time since 1942, or two years before the Allied troops stormed Omaha Beach.

If you can't wrap your arms around that, consider that coach Tony Bennett's dad, Dick, who laid the footings for all this, wasn't even born then.

"I guess I hadn't thought about that," said Tony Bennett, who was more than willing to look at the big picture. "It's a good group of guys; they've bought in, they've believed. It hasn't always been pretty. I just feel so thankful to have done that. I know where it started, all the stuff that's gone into this.

"I was there when that crowd we had at Oregon State [a quiet 5,321 watched the Cougars at Gill Coliseum Thursday night], we would have been rejoicing for at home. We would have been excited about that.

"We had 2,000 people when nobody cared, and it was hard. We were ugly. We couldn't play. We just tried to stay true."

True they were against the Ducks, heeding Bennett's warning at practice Friday: "If we give them uncontested three-point shots, we have no chance!"

The Cougars rotated so well defending the three-happy Ducks that only forward Maarty Leunen hit a deep ball against them.

As Rochestie's play exemplified, it was a team sort of thing. Derrick Low bombed in 11 points in the game's first six minutes and guarded at the other end. Rochestie had three treys in the second half. Weaver, playing on a bum shin, assisted Aron Baynes for consecutive baskets down the stretch, when Baynes had seven straight WSU points just as the Ducks had cut a 12-point deficit to one.

With 2:43 left, Weaver hit Baynes down low to start a three-point play for a 52-47 lead. He found him again on the next possession to maintain the five-point edge, and at the Oregon end, Cowgill blocked the 5-foot-6 Porter, the ball bounced off Porter's head out of bounds, and the Cougars were 73 seconds from a rare celebration in this building.

WSU thumped the Ducks on the boards, 31-20, and hit five more threes. The Ducks haven't made fewer than four from distance since their Pac-10 opener at Arizona State.

At least temporarily, the Cougars, at 8-5, have a pretty solid hold on third place in the Pac-10, while a loss that sank Oregon to 6-7 might prove to be a dagger for the Ducks and their bid for the NCAAs.

"That's a veteran basketball team," said Hairston. "As soon as you make a mistake, they're right back on you. That's how we should play."

Weaver, one of the architects of this two-year bender, was asked what he would have thought of the suggestion he might help WSU have back-to-back 20-win seasons. He answered with what might be described as a deep nasal guffaw.

Rochestie was more eloquent, putting a bow on the night and two years.

"Tony sold me on a dream," he said. "That's why I'm here right now. I'm living a dream."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com

WASHINGTON ST. 62
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Weaver	31	3-7	1-2	1-7	4	3	7
Cowgill	32	0-5	1-2	5-9	1	2	1
Baynes	34	5-7	2-3	1-5	1	3	12
Low	32	5-14	2-2	0-1	2	0	16
Rochestie	34	5-11	7-8	0-2	2	4	21
Koprivica	14	1-1	0-0	0-1	0	3	2
Harmeling	15	1-5	0-0	2-2	0	0	3
Forrest	8	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
	200	20-50	13-17	11-31	10	16	62

Percentages: FG .400, FT .765. Three-point goals: 9-20, .450 (Rochestie 4-8, Low 4-8, Harmeling 1-2, Weaver 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3 (Baynes 2, Cowgill). Turnovers: 8 (Weaver 4, Rochestie 3, Koprivica). Steals: 5 (Baynes 2, Koprivica, Weaver, Harmeling). Technical fouls: None.

OREGON 53
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Hairston	31	3-6	0-0	1-6	2	3	6
Catron	35	3-4	2-4	0-2	3	2	8
Leunen	37	7-10	2-2	0-6	1	3	20
Taylor	29	2-6	2-2	0-0	3	3	6
Porter	24	1-9	2-2	0-0	1	2	4
Platt	8	2-2	2-3	0-1	0	1	6
Odia	12	0-1	0-0	0-2	0	1	0
Longmire	4	0-0	0-0	1-1	0	0	0
Viney	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Brown	16	1-1	1-1	0-1	2	1	3
	200	19-39	11-14	2-20	12	16	53

Percentages: FG .487, FT .786. Three-point goals: 4-17, .235 (Leunen 4-7, Odia 0-1, Hairston 0-1, Catron 0-1, Taylor 0-3, Porter 0-4). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 3 (Catron 2, Leunen). Turnovers: 12 (Catron 3, Taylor 2, Porter 2, Brown 2, Platt, Hairston, Odia). Steals: 3 (Leunen 2, Brown). Technical fouls: None.

Washington St.	30	32	—	62
Oregon	24	29	—	53

Attendance: 9,087. Officials: Mike Scyphers, Rick Batsell, Chris Rastatter.