Cougars laid low by USC

LOS ANGELES -- Mixed among the dejection was also some expectation.

While one postseason party ended for the Washington State Cougars here Friday night, 70-61, in the semifinals of the Pac-10 tournament, they know a bigger dance remains.

"The past three years I've been here, when we lost in the Pac-10 [tournament], we were done," WSU coach Tony Bennett said. "It would have been nice to get another crack at Oregon [the Ducks beat WSU twice this year and also advanced to the Pac-10 final]. But hey, we get another day of rest -- we'll look at it positively that way."

Another positive? They don't figure to have to take on a team like USC the next time they hit the floor.

"They are incredibly talented," said WSU center Robbie Cowgill. "Hopefully we don't have to face someone like them for a little while."

The Trojans (24-11) were also fairly well motivated, if not just for a chance at winning the tournament. They'll take on the Ducks at 3 p.m. -- but they also got a little handle on the Cougars on Friday.

USC dropped two nailbiters to WSU during the regular season that had proven the difference in the Cougars finishing second in the Pac-10 and USC tying for third.

The most heated was a double-overtime WSU victory in Pullman last Saturday punctuated by a brief verbal tussle between the two coaching staffs at midcourt in the late going.

"It wasn't really revenge," said USC guard Lodrick Stewart, a Rainier Beach grad. "We just wanted to beat them. Those first two games, we felt we had them."

In each of those, USC broke to early leads before watching the Cougars rally.

USC came out fast again -- hitting 8 of 12 three-pointers in the first half en route to an early 11-point lead. But this time, WSU's inevitable rally ultimately wilted.

After cutting USC's lead to four with 6:27 left, the Cougars made only one field goal over the next 5:49, missing their next seven shots.

"We had some looks, a few times there where it could have gotten real interesting," said Bennett, recalling a point-blank layin by Aron Baynes that missed with 2:43 left and WSU down five. "But we had trouble breaking down their defense because they are so good defensively."

It was that kind of night for Baynes, the 6-foot-10 sophomore center who had gone a school-record 10 for 10 from the field and scored 25 points in the win over USC last Saturday. This time, with USC's defense collapsing even deeper, Baynes managed just seven points, hitting just two of four shots.

"We didn't get enough touches for Baynes," Bennett said.

And they let USC guard Gabe Pruitt get a few too many.

The junior scored a game-high 26 points, 15 in the first half, hitting 6 of 7 three-pointers. USC took advantage of Washington State's trapping defensive style -- which makes the tradeoff of sometimes leaving the perimeter open -- to throw in eight three-pointers in the game's first 13 minutes.

"He was hitting everything he put up," said WSU guard Kyle Weaver. "When a guy is feeling it like that, you have to try to mix it up and give him different looks, but they did a good job of getting him open."

When Pruitt sank one from deep in the O.C., the Trojans had a 32-22 lead, making a Trojans fan base that included football coach Pete Carroll delirious.

"Once they got hot, they really fed off that, and it was bad for us," Cowgill said.

Nick Young and Stewart also hit two each as the Trojans finished 10 of 16 from the three-point line. It was the eighth time this year WSU has allowed a team to shoot 40 percent or better from the three-point line -- the Cougars have now lost six of those.

"It's a reminder that if we are not locked in defensively that we are vulnerable," Bennett said. "That kind of alertness and readiness to start a game is important, especially when you go up against such athleticism."

The Cougars fall to 25-7, having lost three of their last six games.

Still, it's a regular season that has seen the Cougars come within one of the school's single-season record for wins. And now, the Cougars return to Pullman, where for the first time since 1994 they will watch Selection Sunday with interest. The conventional wisdom is that WSU's win over Washington on Thursday night assured it of a likely top-four seed and, just as likely, a trip to Sacramento. It will be just WSU's fifth NCAA tournament appearance.

"We're a tough team," said WSU guard Taylor Rochestie. "We'll be ready for anything they throw at is, or any city they want to put us in."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Read his blogs on Washington football and basketball at www.seattletimes.com/huskies.