Baynes leads unbeaten WSU to easy victory over Bulldogs

On a night when KeyArena was turned into a raucous Cougars den, three words described Washington State's basketball domination of The Citadel.

Bigger. Older. Better.

The Cougars downed the military-school visitors 67-45 at KeyArena Thursday night before a Crimson-loving crowd of 12,471.

The seventh-ranked Cougars improved to 10-0 with the easy victory that shook off any rust from a 10-day layoff for final exams.

Washington State coach Tony Bennett raved about the crowd and the atmosphere.

"You have no idea how much this atmosphere means to me, our team, to the people who came before," Bennett said. "It blew me away, to be honest with you. I thought of my dad [former WSU coach Dick Bennett] and us being here our first year in Pullman and our first year here [KeyArena] against Utah [in 2005]."

The Bennetts began rebuilding the Cougars program in the 2003-04 season.

Senior guard Kyle Weaver said, "That was a great crowd tonight. The energy they brought sparked us."

The rebuilding Citadel started an all-freshman lineup and had only one non-freshman on the bench. The only senior on the team, 6-foot-7 center Demetrius Nelson, who had been averaging 12.1 points, was out with a foot injury.

No one had a bigger game than the biggest Cougar, powerful 6-10 junior center Aron Baynes.

Baynes dominated inside with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. He played only four minutes in the second half and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

"We were very impressed with Baynes and when they get a lead, they are poised and make good decisions," said Citadel coach Ed Conroy.

Baynes said, "When we get our [defensive] rotations down, I think we're pretty tough to go against. They learned that tonight."

This was a game of streaks.

The Cougars jumped to a 13-0 lead in the first six minutes then let the Bulldogs score the next 13 to pull even.

The score was 20-18 with seven minutes left in the half but the Cougars then shut out the Bulldogs the rest of the half to build a 33-18 intermission lead.

The Cougars outscored the visitors 23-6 in the first 10 minutes of the second half for a 56-24 lead.

Substitutes played most of the rest of the way for the Cougars, who had been favored by 33 points.

The Cougars will be back in Seattle to open the Pac-10 season Jan. 5 at Washington.

That atmosphere is guaranteed to be quite different than the Cougars love-fest Thursday in KeyArena.

Harris honored

There was a tribute to late Cougar Tony Harris at halftime and fans gave the eight family members present a standing ovation.

WSU athletic director Jim Sterk presented family members with an autographed basketball. Al Hairston, Harris' coach at Garfield High School, presented the family with Garfield blankets.

The video screen said: "Tony Harris, You will always be remembered."

Harris died in Brazil in mysterious circumstances last month.

Notes

• New WSU football coach Paul Wulff was introduced to a standing ovation at halftime. "It's really good to be wearing crimson and gray again," he said. He told the crowd, "You will enjoy our football program. ... You will like our style of play. ... You will enjoy the wins and bowls that come with it. ... We're moving forward, folks."

• Sonic Kevin Durant watched the game from a front-row seat.

• Tony Bennett played in KeyArena twice as an NBA player. Bennett said when he was a rookie with the Charlotte Hornets in 1992-93, Sonic Gary Payton came up to him on the floor, smacking gum in his ear and said, "You got nothing, rookie. I'm going to take it from you."

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com

THE CITADEL 45
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Dahn	20	0-4	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Clark	20	1-3	0-0	1-4	1	3	2
McDowell	27	2-6	0-0	1-1	0	1	5
Urbanus	38	5-11	0-0	0-3	2	0	14
Wells	38	5-15	4-4	0-4	1	2

Simmons 10-00-00-0000Reynolds 10-00-00-0000Zeravica 11-10-00-0002Brick 211-50-00-0512Dogan 10-00-00-0000Pandak 131-30-00-1003Eykyn 191-30-00-202320017-514-49-2391145 Percentages: FG .333, FT 1.000. Three-point goals: 7-18, .389 (Urbanus 4-6, Eykyn 1-1, McDowell 1-2, Pandak 1-3, Dahn 0-2, Wells 0-4). Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 8 (Dahn 4, Wells 2, McDowell 2). Steals: 7 (McDowell 3, Clark, Wells, Brick, Eykyn). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON ST. 67
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cowgill	21	4-5	1-2	3-4	2	1	9
Baynes	22	5-7	6-6	3-12	2	0	16
Low	24	2-5	0-0	0-2	2	1	6
Rochestie	23	2-6	0-0	0-3	5	0	6
Weaver	27	2-5	2-2	1-3	6	1	6
Sauls	3	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Koprivica	16	2-3	0-0	1-2	0	0	4
Abercrombie	11	1-3	1-2	0-1	0	2	3
Cross	8	1-3	0-0	0-1	1	0	2
Harmeling	22	5-8	0-0	1-4	0	0	11
Henry	7	0-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Forrest	16	2-2	0-0	1-2	0	0	4
	200	26-49	10-12	10-35	19	5	67

Percentages: FG .531, FT .833. Three-point goals: 5-14, .357 (Low 2-4, Rochestie 2-5, Harmeling 1-2, Abercrombie 0-1, Koprivica 0-1, Weaver 0-1). Team rebounds: 0. Blocked shots: 8 (Forrest 2, Baynes 2, Koprivica, Harmeling, Henry, Cowgill). Turnovers: 10 (Low 3, Henry, Sauls, Cowgill, Forrest, Abercrombie, Rochestie, Weaver). Steals: 5 (Cowgill 2, Abercrombie, Henry, Weaver). Technical fouls: None.

The Citadel	18	27	—	45
Washington St.	33	34	—	67

Attendance: 12,471. Officials: Don McAllister, Jim Girron, Mike Greenstein.