WSU, going away

PULLMAN – Maybe it was the two losing seasons they endured before it. Maybe it was the home crowd, bigger than any they had seen in their lives. Maybe it was the opponent, a Gonzaga team that has dominated both the local airwaves and the Cougars for nearly a decade. Or maybe it was the knowledge that one member of the 10,755-person crowd, their former coach, is slated for hip replacement surgery this week.

Whatever the reason, the Washington State Cougars were not going away quietly Tuesday night, and they got a win that could end up being a program’s turning point for it.

Washington State defeated No. 18 Gonzaga 77-67 scoring 14 of the game’s final 15 points in the process. The win set off a delirious celebration, with the biggest Friel Court crowd since Feb. 11, 1995, storming the floor as the favored road team slunk off the floor and up the tunnel.

“I just told those guys,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said of his pregame speech, ” ‘Listen, you’ve all been recruited for this day, for a day when you can play in front of a packed house and see how you respond. I told you of a vision of trying to help turn a program around.’ Are we there yet? No. Are we making progress toward it? Yeah.”

At numerous points, the Cougars (8-1) could have easily allowed Gonzaga to take control of the contest. The Bulldogs (8-2) scored points on their first nine possessions and sprinted out to an early lead, never trailing in the first half. Even when the Cougars rebounded from a 41-35 halftime deficit to take a narrow lead, Gonzaga came back again to take a 62-55 lead.

But WSU finished the game on a 22-5 run, thanks to some hot shooting and timely defense. The Cougars made 8 of 11 second-half 3-pointers, including three by Daven Harmeling and one by Derrick Low in that stretch.

Harmeling, whose 20 points were a career high, hit a 3-pointer from near-NBA range with 46 seconds left to extend the Cougars lead to eight points and essentially close out the game.

“Down the stretch they did a great job of getting themselves some open looks and we did a really poor job of defending them, that last 5 minutes of the game — actually the last 7 or 8,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “The Cougars deserve a lot of credit and Tony deserves a lot of credit for getting his guys to get that done.”

It had been seven straight losses since the Cougars last defeated Gonzaga, an 85-70 home win in 1997. For the current Cougars, getting the victory in front of so many people seemed to validate this as a defining moment of their careers.

“It means a lot,” said Low, who had a team-best 22 points. “They’re one of our other in-state rivals, including (Washington). They’re a great team. It just feels unbelievably good to beat them.”

The Cougars helped themselves against Gonzaga’s hot shooting in the early portions of the game by protecting the ball on offense. WSU turned it over just seven times, while Gonzaga coughed up 17 turnovers, allowing WSU to attempt 11 more shots from the floor.

As a result, the Cougars got away with a shaky night at the free-throw line (18 of 29).

GU had its chances, but Derek Raivio and Josh Heytvelt, who dominated in the early portions, couldn’t muster much late in the second half. Heytvelt had 22 points and Raivio 21, but they were limited by Ivory Clark and Kyle Weaver, who both played strong defense in the game’s vital possessions. Raivio scored five points in the second half.

Weaver also chipped in 16 points, a season high, and had seven assists with the Cougars using a larger lineup to match up with Heytvelt inside.

The win, in addition to being the biggest of Bennett’s head coaching career, was also a nice present to his father, ex-WSU coach Dick Bennett. The senior Bennett is scheduled to have hip replacement surgery Thursday. He had told his son that a win over GU would be a nice boost before entering the operating room.

With his father in his usual seat in the stands, the son delivered.

“There’s been a lot of sweat and a lot of pain put in this program over the last three years,” Tony Bennett said. “Finally we rewarded the fans.”

Notes

Gonzaga ended up shooting 46.7 percent from the floor for the game, although it hit just eight shots from the field in the second half. … GU’s Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes fouled out with 1:26 to play. … Robbie Cowgill had no points but a game-high eight rebounds for WSU.