Cougs uncork rare sweep

PULLMAN – With good reason, the Super Bowl is the can’t-miss event for the state of Washington this week.

But for the 8,770 fans who walked through the turnstiles at Beasley Coliseum Saturday afternoon, today’s football game might end up being No. 2 in the memory bank.

Washington State, saddled with a six-game losing streak and facing a Washington team bent on avenging an upset loss to the Cougars last month, pulled the stunner that few thought possible.

And this was no squeaker.

Outscoring the Huskies by 18 in the second half, WSU rolled to a 77-64 win in front of the biggest crowd at Friel Court since Feb. 8, 1996. To the delight of the home fans, the Cougars completed a rare football-basketball three-game sweep – barring a Pac-10 Tournament rematch – something that hadn’t happened since 1968-69.

“We’ve played some good ball in the last two years on big nights, but something always happens down the stretch,” WSU head coach Dick Bennett said. “We were able to hold them off and that’s such a good feeling.”

In reality, the Cougars (10-9, 3-7) did much more than hold off the No. 16 Huskies (16-5, 5-5). They made their cross-state rival look bad, as Washington hit just 7 of 31 second-half shots and the Cougars turned around a five-point halftime deficit with an 11-0 run.

Washington, the highest-scoring team in the nation, didn’t register its first second-half point until the 15:08 mark.

“I don’t mean to say we weren’t prepared,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said, “but down the stretch there were just too many times we didn’t play with the intensity we needed to.”

The Cougars also riddled the undisciplined Huskies on offense as well. Washington – which has lost three straight – successfully made WSU play at its pace early, but in the second half the Cougars clamped down into a half-court game and found easy baskets when they needed them.

Five WSU players finished in double figures – although Josh Akognon’s 14 points were high for the team.

“It’s not even Washington,” Akognon said, trying to explain the win’s significance. “It’s the fact that we lost six straight games. It was time to make a statement.”

Aron Baynes, scoreless at halftime and with just two rebounds to his name, responded with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the second half, good for the freshman’s second consecutive double-double. WSU pulled in nine offensive rebounds in the second half, and that led to both easy points and a pair of crowd-stirring dunks.

“It’s rare when you’ll get an offensive rebound and put it back as quickly as we were able to,” Bennett said. “That was huge.”

Brandon Roy had a game-high 21 for Washington, but his points did not come easily as Ivory Clark defended him ferociously for much of the game. With Roy’s production limited, the rest of the Huskies struggled to find an effective offensive game.

For WSU, the challenge is to prevent what happened after the first Washington win – a long losing streak.

“Coach Bennett,” Akognon said with a knowing smile, “will be right back on us Monday.”

Notes

WSU shot 24 of 28 from the free-throw line, helping keep the Huskies at bay in the final minutes. … Freshman guard Chris Matthews got his first career start, and responded with career highs in points (13) and minutes (27). Ivory Clark (10 points) and Robbie Cowgill (10 points) were the other Cougars in double figures.