Rochestie steps up as senior

PULLMAN – There were five ticks left on the clock. The lead was a single point. The teams were coming out of their respective timeout huddles.

Washington State’s DeAngelo Casto paced back and forth at the free-throw line, ready to shoot his second attempt. His first, before the timeout, had nearly brought down the rim it was so hard, coach Tony Bennett said.

Beasley Coliseum was a cacophony of sound as the Cougars tried to hold on and win their first Pac-10 game of the season Saturday night.

WSU senior Taylor Rochestie stepped into the lane, clapped his hands twice and began to speak.

The point guard had to shout so Casto, Aron Baynes and Nik Koprivica could here what he had to say.

“The last 5 seconds are mental,” Rochestie yelled to his teammates. “We win the game if we stay focused and stay poised. Have vision and don’t let anybody beat you long.”

They didn’t. Though Casto’s second try mirrored the first and though Stanford’s Anthony Goods grabbed the rebound and sprinted up court, the defense held.

Goods’ buzzer-beating 30-footer wasn’t close. WSU had escaped with a 55-54 win over the Cardinal.

Rochestie had done his part. He led all scorers with 21 points, grabbed six rebounds, had four assists and, in 39 minutes with the ball in his hands a majority of the time, turned it over just once.

On the defensive end he locked down on Goods, Stanford’s leading scorer, holding the senior shooting guard to 15 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the floor.

But his biggest contributions might have been with his voice.

“He came into the (last) timeout (huddle) and said, ‘We’re not losing this game, we’re not losing with 5 seconds left,’ ” Bennett said. “He was just real adamant.

“Taylor, he knew there was a lot of game left, another possession or two that would be significant.”

It’s all part of the maturation process of the 23-year-old from Santa Barbara, Calif., who came to WSU after a year at Tulane University. A process he embraces.

“As a point guard you take on a leadership role whether you are a freshman or a senior,” Rochestie said this week as he prepared to lead the Cougars on their first conference road trip, to Oregon State (Thursday) and Oregon (Saturday). “At the same time, I think I’ve been more of a leader, just vocally, on and off the court this year.

“It’s important, having been there and having a lot of young guys, to try to take that role.”

The Cougars (9-6, 1-2 in Pac-10 play) have increasingly turned to freshmen for extended minutes, with Casto making two big plays against Stanford, Klay Thompson leading the team in scoring much of the year, Abe Lodwick nailing a big 3-pointer versus the Cardinal and Marcus Capers backing up at the point. Leading has become as crucial as scoring for Rochestie.

Not that he was doing much of the latter early on. A shooting slump – he was 26 of 88 (29.5 percent) from the floor in the eight games prior to Pac-10 play – aggravated by some untimely turnovers forced Rochestie to deal with a crisis of confidence. How he did only cemented his status as a leader.

He talked about his problems. He worked harder at practice. He took Bennett’s criticisms to heart and tried to correct the mistakes.

“He’s just tough,” said Capers, who feels Rochestie is helping him more on the mental side than he is anywhere else. “He doesn’t back down to anybody. He’s really tough, I like that about him.”

Bennett pointed out Rochestie’s defense.

“I like the job he did on (Cal leading scorer Jerome) Randle (who was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers and finished with eight points, less than half his average) and the job he did on Goods,” he said. “That was significant, to take two big-time scorers in our league and really make them work to get their points.”