The game that was: Oregon State 69, WSU 64
COUGARS
FROM LOS ANGELES -- Is WSU's season over? That's a question we addressed in our game story. For now, we'll recap this loss to Oregon State the same way we always do.
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PLAYER OF THE GAME -- It wasn't Brock Motum or Jared Cunningham, the conference's two leading scorers. Instead, Devon Collier was a big-time presence today for the Beavers, scoring 19 points and dominating the paint on a day when Cunningham couldn't get it going and Ahmad Starks went cold after making four 3s early.
PLAY OF THE GAME -- Joe Burton's basket with 56 seconds left off a great pass from Roberto Nelson that put OSU ahead 66-61. Down two possessions, WSU was forced to start jacking threes, and the Cougars missed all of them.
KEY STAT -- The Cougars made just one field goal in the final 10:15. Say what you will about turnovers and missed free throws. But not many games are won by teams that go that long without scoring. Unless they're playing USC.
QUOTABLE -- "We’re competitors, so if the coaches decide to put us in the tournament than we’re going to compete and play. I feel strong about this team and if we put us into any tournament, I think we can win any tournament. I think we could have won this tournament if a couple shots would have went down. We would have won this game. We would have beat the Huskies. We would have beat whoever we had. But we didn’t. Like I said, we’re competitors, so if they throw us in any tournament we’ll compete and play." -- DaVonte Lacy, on the possibility of playing in a postseason tournament
NEXT UP -- Who knows? My guess is the Cougars host a CBI game next week, but we won't know that until Sunday night at the earliest. But athletic director Bill Moos has said WSU would like to host, and Bone was just as certain after Wednesday's game as he was a couple weeks ago that he wants to continue playing, if presented with the opportunity. Remember, Oregon State won the CBI in 2009 after entering with a 14-18 record, and a very mediocre Oregon team won it last year. WSU's sub-.500 record isn't that big of a deterrent, I don't think.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple