Cougars challenged in Corvallis, but emerge with hard-fought win

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- So this is what it's like when you're having a basketball season endorsed by the gods.

Washington State was struggling mightily here Saturday evening, down 45-38 with 11 minutes left. The Cougars had fought uphill throughout, never leading, and never really making very many people think they were going to win the game.

"I really challenged them," WSU coach Tony Bennett would say later. " 'Show me a sense of urgency. Show me a team that's playing to be in the championship race.' "

And then Washington State goes down low to Aron Baynes, and he scores the game's next nine points, playing the most minutes he has seen since the Idaho game Dec. 9.

Oh, but that was opened up by Robbie Cowgill's three perimeter jumpers among 12 points -- mostly out of nowhere, since he had scored 32 points in his last seven games. And then down the stretch, a junior-college guard from Portland, Mac Hopson, hits the winning jumper off the bench, and WSU produces a resilient 58-54 victory over Oregon State.

Who's writing this stuff, Chip Hilton?

One of the hoariest clichés in sports says that on the really special teams, it's a different guy every night stepping up. Well, on this night, how about three of them?

"I think there's going to be a lot of electricity in the building on Thursday night," said Bennett. "That might be the understatement."

Could be. UCLA visits Friel Court, to find a WSU team 23-5 and 12-4 in the Pac-10. The Cougars are two games out of the Pac-10 lead, so it's a bit of a stretch to think they can wedge out a piece of the conference championship. But then, it was a stretch about the breadth of Australia -- the bulky, 6-foot-10 Baynes' homeland -- for anybody to have thought WSU would earn this position.

"Even if we don't get it ... " said Cowgill, trailing off. "Coach was telling us today, that doesn't happen every year."

If it did, then WSU wouldn't be picked 10th in a 10-team conference, as it was this season. Instead, it's tied for its most wins since the 23-7 team of 1982-83. Its eight road wins are the most since the 1951-52 team.

Twelve wins away from Pullman (including neutral courts) is the most since 1941, eight months before Pearl Harbor.

From the get-go on OSU's senior night, the Cougars were swimming upstream. They fell behind 7-0. It took them 3:25 just to score. They allowed OSU to shoot 50 percent in a first half that ended with the Beavers on top, 32-27.

Still down seven with 11 minutes left, WSU was staring at a lost weekend. That's when Baynes suddenly began looking like Bill Walton on the low block. Three straight times, Derrick Low entered the ball, and three times Baynes converted, the first two on perfect jump-hooks.

"Baynes enhances our physicalness so much," Bennett said. "It's so nice to get some of those baskets inside."

It's completely in keeping with WSU's thrill ride that Baynes hasn't exactly been money heretofore with the ball in his hands, shooting 38 percent. Coming off surgery for an ankle torn up in training last June, he hasn't been a great shot finisher.

"Whenever I got the ball, I knew I'd have to go up strong," Baynes said. "Before, I'd been going up pretty soft, pretty hesitant."

Meanwhile, Baynes was banging around OSU forward Sasa Cuic (3 for 9), while WSU's Kyle Weaver, who sat at the start for what Bennett called a "minor" violation of Friday's 10:30 p.m. curfew, locked down OSU's dangerous Marcel Jones, limiting him to three second-half attempts.

That set the stage for Hopson, who played a solid 17 minutes, atop the 16 he played at Oregon -- following 12 in the previous 14 games of the Pac-10 season.

He pump-faked Josh Tarver, dropped one dribble and confidently sank a 16-footer to give WSU a 56-54 lead with 37 seconds left. After OSU missed and rebounded, Weaver slapped the ball away and Baynes downed two free throws with 8.7 seconds left for the last of his 14 points.

Baynes, who chose the Cougars over Gonzaga, Utah, St. Mary's and South Carolina, had been unearthed by WSU assistant Ben Johnson after a stint playing and coaching in Cairns, Australia.

"This might be our best victory of the season," Johnson said. "Our kids really had to dig deep and gut it out."

Especially the not-quite-conditioned Baynes, who played the final 15 minutes. In Pullman, it was an occasion to toss some shrimp on the barbie and hoist a Foster's. Not that they need an occasion there, but they've got a basketball team to give them one.

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

WASHINGTON ST.
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Harmeling	24	1-4	0-0	0-3	1	2	3
Clark	18	2-5	0-0	0-4	1	3	4
Cowgill	36	5-7	2-2	1-6	2	4	12
Low	32	4-10	0-1	0-2	5	3	10
Rochestie	15	1-2	1-1	0-1	2	0	3
Hopson	17	2-4	0-1	0-1	0	1	4
Baynes	22	3-4	8-13	0-6	0	3	14
Weaver	33	3-6	1-2	1-5	2	3	8
Forrest	3	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
	200	21-42	12-20	2-30	13	19	58

Percentages: FG .500, FT .600. Three-point goals: 4-11, .364 (Low 2-4, Weaver 1-2, Harmeling 1-4, Hopson 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 6 (Low 3, Weaver, Cowgill, Baynes). Steals: 4 (Low, Weaver, Cowgill, Hopson). Technical fouls: None.

OREGON ST.
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Jones	36	6-11	1-4	0-6	1	3	16
Johnson	9	0-1	1-2	0-0	0	2	1
Jeffers	30	3-8	3-5	7-10	1	3	9
JTarver	33	3-10	0-0	0-4	3	3	7
Washington	34	3-5	3-4	2-7	4	4	9
Tsagarakis	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Schaftenaar	9	0-1	0-2	0-1	1	0	0
STarver	7	0-1	0-0	1-1	0	1	0
McGillis	15	0-2	0-0	0-2	1	2	0
Cuic	27	3-9	4-6	0-1	0	4	12
	200	18-48	12-23	10-34	11	22	54

Percentages: FG .375, FT .522. Three-point goals: 6-18, .333 (Jones 3-5, Cuic 2-7, J.Tarver 1-4, Washington 0-1, McGillis 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (Washington). Turnovers: 8 (Washington 3, Jones 2, Schaftenaar, S.Tarver). Steals: 6 (Jones 2, J.Tarver 2, Washington, Johnson). Technical fouls: None.

Washington St.	27	31	—	58
Oregon St.	32	22	—	54

Attendance: 8,082. Officials: Bruce Hicks, Tony Padilla, Brian Shelley.