COUGARS

OK, I'm back in Spokane after racing up I-5 to make my flight. I made some changes in the story and added some web-only items. You can read it all on the link.
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• Here's the game story …

EUGENE, Ore. – It might have taken 17 games, but Washington State finally found the key to its offense.

Get to the free-throw line. Then make every one.

The Cougars walked there 14 times Saturday. And they made all 28 attempts in their 74-62 Pac-10 Conference win over Oregon before 8,261 at McArthur Court.

And they needed every one of their school- and Pac-10-record free throws, as the Ducks, without coach Ernie Kent on the bench, ejected midway through the second half, came flying back late.

"We knew we had to go to the line and make it count every time," senior center Aron Baynes said. "We were able to do that. It was clutch down at the end of the game."

Despite the 12-point final margin, the free throws and Kent's ejection weren't the only unusual occurrences WSU needed to raise its record to 11-6, 3-2 in Pac-10 play.

They also needed every one of Taylor Rochestie's career-best 30 points – he hit all 16 of his free throws – and seven assists.

They needed Baynes' first career 3-pointer and the rest of his season-high 19 points and career-best-tying 12 rebounds.

They needed at least five blocked shots, including an uncredited one by freshman Marcus Capers, making his first career start, three by Baynes and two by DeAngelo Casto.

And of course they needed their given, a defense that suffocated most of Oregon's shooters for 37 of the 40 minutes.

"Some guys are just playing real well," WSU coach Tony Bennett answered when asked how the Cougars have been able to win three consecutive Pac-10 games. "Taylor is just carrying us. Aron, those two seniors have just stepped up."

Rochestie not only tied Marcus Moore's single-game school record for most free throws made without a miss, he also hit two big 3-pointers late to blunt the first part of Oregon's comeback.

"It just came down to having the ball go in the basket," the senior point guard said of his recent improved shooting and his 19.2 scoring average in conference.

The ball going into the basket something you expect from Baynes, second in the conference in shooting percentage and 6 of 10 in this one. Only you don't expect the ball to be shot from more than 10 feet.

But when he picked up a loose ball at the top of the key with 7:01 left and UO (6-12, 0-6) on a 7-0 run that had cut WSU's once 17-point lead, Baynes knew what to do. Shoot it before the shot-clock expired.

"A few things were falling our way," Baynes said, smiling. "I've put up a few, but I never put them up with much time on the clock, so I'm always kind of rushed. This one just fell in."

But it wasn't counted immediately. The officials, who already had ejected Kent to a chorus of boos, had to check to see if the shot clock had expired – it hadn't – and if Baynes was behind the line – he was.

By then Kent had been in the locker room for 5 minutes.

After watching his team shoot 25 percent in the first half, miss their first eight 3-point attempts and have trouble matching up with Baynes and Casto inside, Kent had seen enough.

The Ducks led only once, at 2-0 on LeKendric Longmire's post move, part of his team-high 15 points. They trailed by seven at the half after a 6-0 WSU run in the last 2 minutes, though they crawled to within five – 31-26 – on Joevan Catron's bucket with 14:48 left. WSU then went inside to Baynes. His hook shot seemed to slip from his fingers as Josh Crittle made incidental contact and official Chris Rastatter called a foul.

Kent jumped out to near mid-court and Rastatter whistled him for a technical. Four free throws later, WSU had started what would turn out to be a 12-0 run.

Kent, under fire after the young Ducks slow start this season, wasn't around to see the run end. When no foul was called after Catron, who had 12 points and nine rebounds, went to the hoop and hit the ground on a miss, Kent jumped up again and Rastatter hit him with another technical.

"He believes that this game was reffed unfairly," junior guard Tajuan Porter said of Kent's actions, "and he did what he had to do."

The Cougars scored four more points off that call and this one seemed over. It wasn't. The Ducks, after missing their first eight 3-pointers, made seven in the last 8 minutes and kept it close, with Porter hitting four en route to 15 points.

"That shows you how quick they can score," Bennett said of the Ducks' late run. "We didn't do a great job guarding at the very end, but I thought we were real good defensively up until, what, 3 minutes left when they just started flying at us, ball-screening and attacking. They got in scramble mode and we weren't quite ready."

But they were at the line.

"They just stepped up there with confidence and banged them," Bennett said. "We needed them."

They also needed all the blocks, including three on consecutive possessions late in the first half that keyed the edge-building run. First Capers came over the help and swatted Longmire's layup attempt. Then Casto got a hand on Porter's. Finally, Baynes took care of a Drew Wiley drive.

"Usually Daven and I are the high flyers who are blocking shots," Rochestie joked. "To have Marcus and DeAngelo and those guys, it makes a big difference. They are making plays some of us can't make."

It also allows the Cougar defense to extend quicker, or as Rochestie said "getting out on shooters and trusting your teammates."

Bennett trusted Casto on Catron, who the coach felt was the key to Oregon's offense.

"I just thought Catron was going be just such an important guy in this game," Bennett said. "If we could do a good job on him, it would be big."

The 6-foot-6 power forward nearly fouled out starter Caleb Forrest, but Casto came off the bench to help limit the Ducks' go-to inside guy.

"We decided to let DeAngelo take him one-on-one," Bennett said, "and I thought he did a heck of a job."

NOTES: The 17 points Oregon scored in the first half tied a 20-minute low this season for the Ducks. Of course, the 45 they scored after intermission were the most WSU has given up in a half this year. The Cougars countered with 50 points, also a one-half high. ... The old Pac-10 record for most free throws without a miss was 22 by USC, also in Eugene. The NCAA record is 34, done three times. The Cougars' performance was the best in the NCAA this season. ... WSU has won four consecutive games vs. the Ducks. ... Rastatter wouldn't address the Kent ejection. "I really can’t get into that. I mean, it’s bench decorum. You can quote it’s bench decorum," he told pool reporter George Schroeder of the Register-Guard. However, he did talk about the Baynes' 3-pointer. "We determined that no timing error occurred," he said. "We just went to see if a timing mistake happened. There was no timing error. We did review the 2 and 3 and it was clearly a 3 and that was it." ... Capers played a career-high 31 minutes.

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• That's it for tonight. We'll be back in the morning with other quotes, notes and links in our usual day after post. Till then ...

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