WSU wins 69-66 in overtime
COUGARS
It's late. Later than it needed to be. But the bottom line is Washington State held off Northwestern, 69-66, in overtime and will play in the NIT semifinals next week in New York. Read on.
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• If you were at the game and stayed afterward, you might have seen Klay Thompson seem to single to the "one-more-year" chanting student crowd he was in their corner, waving his index finger in an action they interpreted as his pledge to come back. That's not the case. Asked about it afterward, Thompson said he knows they want one more year from him but he wanted them to know he was taking it one game at a time. The NBA decision? That will come at the end of the year, as he's said all along. ... Then there was the DeAngelo Casto saga, which were not going into here. But it's obvious, WSU wouldn't have been booking a New York trip if it wasn't for Casto and his 11 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two assists. ... Add in a Thompson dunk that earned ESPN's top play and you had three elements that could have carried a game story all by themselves. ... But the big deal is the outcome itself. With the win, WSU has moved further along in the postseason than any other Cougar basketball team. This up-and-down, adversity-addled group is two wins away from a national title. OK, you may call it the JV national title, but a national title nonetheless. Pretty amazing. ... Here's a link to our early story, filed at the end of the game. We also had one that included comment from the players and Ken Bone. ... There is also this column from John Blanchette on the Casto decision today.
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• That's it for now. We will be back in the morning. Until then ...
