Cougars soak up their day in the sun

PULLMAN – Dad’s Day, 2003.

Tony and Laurel Bennett took in the football game and then headed over to Beasley Coliseum for the evening show that’s always a part of the weekend at Washington State.

That year it was Jay Leno. Bennett doesn’t remember any of the jokes, but he remembers what happened before the comedian took the stage.

“The place was packed,” he said. “We’re sitting half-court, about midway up, and the crowd started chanting, ‘Go! Cougs!’ Back and forth, back and forth – it was just echoing off the walls.

“I leaned over to my wife and said, ‘Some day – some day – they’re going to be doing this for Cougar basketball.’ “

Up the ramp and down the hallway from Friel Court late Tuesday night, you could still hear the last of those echoes.

“Today was that day,” Bennett said, “when they were here for Cougar basketball.”

And even better, the Cougars were there for them.

None of this half-a-loaf business.

On this night, the Cougars had the house, the game, the will and the payoff – the whole package, and of course they needed every element to beat 18th-ranked Gonzaga 77-67, an upset of not nearly the proportion you probably think, but deliverance nonetheless.

In front of the largest audience in nearly 12 years – 10,755 was the final count – the Cougars authenticated the moment in a way they hadn’t done for ages, and yes that includes the sweep of Washington last season. They managed to overcome what seemed to be certain doom – down seven points with seven minutes to play – and put their foot on Gonzaga’s throat.

The Zags didn’t lose this one, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few didn’t try to spin it that way.

“They beat us,” Few said. “They stepped up and made plays at the end to win a game.”

And in the end, that’s what made it meaningful. Had the Cougars not sealed the deal, everyone would have felt suitably cheered by the big turnout and the courageous effort, but now no one has to say, “But…”

Least of all those 10,755 – though, of course, the crowd wasn’t 100 percent Cougar.

The kids who got their first were, certainly – including Pat Yecha and Eric Foss, who’ve been camped on the same baseline for four years.

“If we win,” Yecha said, “I’m going to storm the floor – naked.”

Naked?

“Well, everything but the naked.”

And he was – fully clothed – in the mob that flooded the court after Derrick Low dribbled out the clock. It hoisted Low and Daven Harmeling – 20 points, including the 3-pointer that put Wazzu ahead for good and the other that ended any mystery – onto its shoulders briefly as the bedlam crested.

“I feel good for our fans because they’ve been through so many heartbreaking losses,” Harmeling said. “There’s people in the ‘ZZU Crew’ who come faithfully a couple hours beforehand every game and for them to feel good about a win, we feel good for them, too.”

That feeling was some time in coming. The Cougars fell behind almost instantly, by as many as 10 points, and flubbed any number of chances to close the gap completely in the first half, usually because either Derek Raivio was there to nail a 3-pointer or Josh Heytvelt was having his way inside.

But when Kyle Weaver nailed a couple of 3s and the Cougs surged into a 45-44 lead four minutes after halftime, there was at least the notion of possibility – even though Gonzaga charged right back.

No matter what the Cougars did to themselves – fail to handle Heytvelt in the post, commit seven fouls to GU’s one to open the half, miss six of seven free throws in a stretch – they kept playing themselves back into the game, first with a little defense and then with a lot of offense.

“They have a resiliency about themselves,” said Bennett, “where they just keep playing.”

And, yes, the Zags made some unusual mistakes – we won’t yet say uncharacteristic, because it’s too early in the season for character to be concrete – for a team that has already dispatched with the likes of North Carolina and Texas.

“But this was mostly a defensive problem,” Few said. “If you’re going to win on the road, you’re going to have to string together stops. I think they scored 17 points in their last 10 possessions, and that’s going to beat you.”

Happy as Bennett was, he may have been happiest for his father Dick, who did the spade work on this project for three years – and agonized through every pass and dribble Tuesday night from his seat in the corner of the gym. Bennett was also careful not to suggest that the Cougs, even beating GU for the first time since 1998, had scaled Everest.

“If we’re right and ready, we can compete with a lot of teams,” he said. “But they’ve learned from one of the best how hard and tough it has to be. As my dad said, you’d better get a group of guys you can lose with first when you’re rebuilding before you win, because you’re going to suffer a lot of losses. But if they’ll stay together and stay true to the vision, then when you get it to a point where there’s more maturity, maybe you’ll have a chance to do it.”

And so they did Tuesday.

Making that Dad’s day, too, in a way.