Cougars Light Up Bears Bench Clears As Everyone Gets In On Act

Wednesday was the beginning of Lent.

Apparently Cal decided to give up defense.

The Bears, desperately needing a win to keep their NCAA hopes alive, stood and watched as Washington State ran past them to a 79-73 win at Friel Court on Thursday night.

But don’t even start to think this one was that close.

This game was over early.

The Cougars (10-15, 4-10) used balance and their bench to build as much as a 22-point lead in the first half.

In fact, every Cougar scholarship player got minutes - in the first half. And not only did they play, all but one, Leif Nelson, scored in those first 20 minutes.

“The whole team showed up,” said Eddie Miller, who was battling a stomach problem but still came up with his first-career double-double, 11 points and 12 rebounds. “Just being able to go to the bench and use all those players and have it be a team effort, that was big for us.”

Everyone showed up in the shooting stats as well.

Washington State was coming off 25- and 38-percent shooting performances, but put together a 55 percent first half. The Cougars were 50 percent from behind the arc in the half.

“It was kind of like they were a step slow on defense,” said point guard Blake Pengelly. “The shots we were getting were open shots. And it’s not like we are a bad shooting team, we may miss some, but if we get open shots we are going to make them.”

By halftime the WSU lead was down to 17 points, 48-31. But that still represented the largest WSU lead at the half of any Pac-10 game and the second-largest lead of the season (WSU led Grambling State by 24). Making matters worse for the Bears (14-9, 5-8) was that they only had one offensive threat, Thomas Kilgore.

The guard scored 17 of the Cal’s 31 first half points. Nobody else had more than four. With 6:37 remaining, Kilgore had 25 of the Bears’ 50 points and he finished with a career-high 34.

Geno Carlisle, who has been ineffective since going for 29 against North Carolina, wound up with five points on a 2 of 13 shooting night. In all, the Bears were 29 of 67 from the floor for 43 percent. No player other than Kilgore was in double figures.

It also didn’t help that Cal shot 56 percent from the free throw line. The Cougars shot 83 percent from the line.

“You look at the stats and sometimes they tell a lot and sometimes they don’t,” said Cal coach Ben Braun. “Tonight, they say a lot.”

The Bears did try to crawl back into the game and managed to cut the lead to single digits with 8 minutes left.

But sophomore center Brain Stewart, playing because Kojo Mensah-Bonsu had four fouls, came up with some big blocks on defense and hit 6 of 7 free throws down the stretch. He finished with nine points.

His low post offense also forced Cal’s Sean Lampley and Francisco Elson, the Bears only interior threats, to foul out.

The Bears seemed ready to play late in the game. They again rallied and got within striking distance with less than 3 minutes left. But the lead was too big and Cal had expended from trying to come back.

WSU’s free throw shooting, 13 of 14 free throws down the stretch, also kept Cal at arms length.

In the first half, Washington State was able to build its lead with defense and transition buckets. With the score tied at 4, the Cougars grabbed three straight steals. Those steals resulted in two free throws for Mensah-Bonsu, a layup for Mike Bush and a wide-open jumper for Jan-Michael Thomas.

The lead was 10-4 and the Cougars would never look back.

Washington St. 79, California 73

California (14-9, 5-8) - Kilgore 11-18 10-14 34, Elson 2-5 0-2 4, Lampley 3-5 0-0 6, Boyd 0-3 0-0 0, Carlisle 2-13 0-0 5, Gates 1-4 0-0 3,l King 4-6 0-1 8, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Gill 4-10 0-0 9, Gordon 0-0 0-0 0, Forehan-Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Hughes 2-3 0-1 4. Totals 29-67 10-18 73.

Washington State (10-15, 4-10) - Bush 1-5 0-0 2, Mensah-Bonsu 2-8 9-10 13, Miller 4-8 3-4 11, Thomas 4-13 1-2 11, Kazadi 2-3 0-0 5, Pengelly 3-3 0-1 8, Crosby 4-6 4-4 14, Stewart 1-3 7-8 9, Slotemaker 1-2 0-0 3, Hutchens 1-1 0-0 2, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 24-29 79.

Halftime - Washington State 48, California 31. 3-point goals - California 5-17 (Kilgore 2-3, Carlisle 1-6, Gates 1-4, King 0-2, Gill 1-2), Washington State 9-20 (Bush 0-1, Thomas 2-9, Kazadi 1-1, Pengelly 2-2, Crosby 3-5, Slotemaker 1-2). Fouled out - Elson, Lampley. Rebounds - California 36 (Elson 8), Washington State 38 (Miller 12). Assists - California 9 (Carlisle 4), Washington State 14 (Thomas, Crosby 3). Total fouls - California 26, Washington State 16. Technicals - None. A - 3,975.

Cougars 79 Bears 73 Saturday: Stanford at WSU, 7 p.m.