Taylor Rochestie scores career-high 33 as WSU stuns UCLA, 82-81

LOS ANGELES — His team had lost seven of its last nine, including what seemed like a bottoming-out at home to Oregon State eight days ago, and was in danger of falling under .500 for the first time in more than three years.

So when Washington State basketball coach Tony Bennett gathered his players before Saturday's game at No. 20 UCLA, he said he had one wish: "I hope you haven't lost your fight, because I haven't lost mine."

Then he asked a question: "Why not here? Why not now?"

Sure, why not, came the surprising answer as the Cougars pulled one of the bigger upsets of the Pac-10 season in beating host UCLA 82-81 at Pauley Pavilion behind the career-high 33 points of senior point guard Taylor Rochestie.

"We'd come so close," Bennett said of what had been a number of close losses this season, including a 61-59 defeat to UCLA at home last month. "It was just a matter of getting over the edge."

Pauley Pavilion seemed an unlikely place to get that done, however. WSU was 1-50 in the building before Saturday, winning only in 2004 against one of the worst Bruins teams in recent history (UCLA finished 11-17 that season). And UCLA was coming off a win over Washington on Thursday that seemed to stamp it as again the favorite to win the Pac-10.

But the Cougars took the fight to UCLA from the start, scoring the first five points of the game and never letting up.

"We may have been fatigued today, I don't know," said UCLA coach Ben Howland, pointing not only to the win over UW but the preparation preceding it. "But Washington State beat us fair and square."

Freshman Klay Thompson scored 15 points in the first half, which ended in a 42-42 tie — WSU's highest first-half point total of the season.

Those who expected UCLA to recover in the second half seemed ready to be proven right when the Bruins grabbed a 51-46 lead with 15:45 to play. But the Cougars quickly recovered, going on a 19-6 run to take a 67-59 lead with 5:33 left.

UCLA tried to rally back, but every time WSU answered, most memorably when Rochestie followed up his own missed shot with a tip-in from about five feet with 1:33 remaining, two of his 21 second-half points.

"What he did was special in terms of making big shots," Bennett said of Rochestie, who was 9 of 16 for the game.

UCLA rallied to one behind on a three-pointer with 3.3 seconds left, but the Cougars held on.

The win kept alive WSU's hopes of the postseason as the Cougars are now 14-13 overall, 6-9 in Pac-10 play. In typical coach's fashion, Bennett said he told his team to savor the win for a little while then start thinking about the next game.

But Caleb Forrest, one of four WSU seniors who had never beaten UCLA, said that wouldn't be so easy.

"It will be hard not to enjoy this one for a few days," he said.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com

WASHINGTON ST. (14-13, 6-9)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Capers	17	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Thompson	40	6-13	0-0	0-5	5	0	15
Baynes	26	5-7	3-3	2-6	4	5	13
Rochestie	40	9-16	10-10	1-5	4	0	33
Forrest	27	6-8	0-0	0-2	1	2	12
Casto	17	3-4	1-2	1-3	2	2	7
Harmeling	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Enquist	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Koprivica	24	1-2	0-2	1-4	0	2	2
	200	30-51	14-17	6-28	17	14	82

Percentages: FG .588, FT .824. Three-point goals: 8-15, .533 (Rochestie 5-7, Thompson 3-7, Koprivica 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 4 (Baynes 2, Casto, Thompson). Turnovers: 13 (Rochestie 6, Thompson 3, Capers, Koprivica, Baynes, Forrest). Steals: 4 (Rochestie 2, Thompson, Capers). Technical fouls: None.

UCLA (20-7, 9-5)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Holiday	16	0-1	1-2	0-1	4	2	1
Aboya	33	5-10	3-5	4-11	0	1	13
Collison	36	8-15	3-3	0-2	8	2	20
Shipp	32	5-11	3-4	0-3	2	2	14
Dragovic	34	8-12	2-2	2-3	2	2	23
Lee	16	1-1	2-2	0-1	0	5	4
Keefe	6	0-0	1-2	0-0	0	0	1
Roll	16	2-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	5
Gordon	7	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0
Anderson	4	0-2	0-0	1-1	0	1	0
	200	29-55	15-20	7-23	17	15	81

Percentages: FG .527, FT .750. Three-point goals: 8-18, .444 (Dragovic 5-8, Shipp 1-2, Roll 1-2, Collison 1-4, Anderson 0-1, Holiday 0-1). Team rebounds: 0. Blocked shots: 3 (Lee 2, Dragovic). Turnovers: 8 (Collison 2, Holiday 2, Anderson, Dragovic, Gordon). Steals: 9 (Dragovic 4, Lee 2, Aboya, Anderson, Collison). Technical fouls: None.

Washington St.	42	40	—	82
UCLA	42	39	—	81

Attendance: 10,392. Officials: Dave Libbey, Mark Reischling, Michael Greenstein.