Washington State inches past shorthanded Oregon State, completes well-matched sweep of Beavers
PULLMAN – Washington State seemed to be running low on fumes. Thankfully for the Cougars, their opponents ran out of gas first.
WSU willed its way past a shorthanded but hard-fighting Beavers team 71-67 on Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum.
With the victory, the Cougs (17-13, 10-9) locked up their best Pac-12 win total since 2007-08. They twice needed to dig deep to slip past the conference’s cellar dwellers in OSU (3-26, 1-18). WSU tipped the Beavers in overtime Monday night in Corvallis.
In the rematch on the Palouse, the visitors only brought six scholarship players. They were missing the head of their offense in point guard Dashawn Davis – who dissected the Cougar defense with 11 assists in Round 1 – and a key defender in Warith Alatishe.
“Credit to them – they played their butts off,” coach Kyle Smith said.
“I was surprised. They played with tremendous effort,” post Efe Abogidi added. “We just gotta keep pushing. They were going to get tired. They only got seven guys.”
The Beavers’ fatigue showed in spurts and was most evident during a four-minute stretch in crunch time. Guard TJ Bamba, who paced WSU with 16 points and eight boards off the bench, sparked a 12-3 surge that put the Cougs up by 11 with just under three minutes remaining. OSU rediscovered its energy late and cut it to two with 30 seconds remaining but WSU held firm.
“We’re just growing up finally,” Bamba said. “Us being so young, being a new group, we didn’t really know how to close games (earlier this season).”
Abogidi bounced back from a pair of tough games with nine points, eight rebounds and five high-flying blocks. WSU recorded nine blocks, its most as a team in a conference game since 2010.
“Efe was really electric,” Smith said. “He wiped some layups off that led to some transition opportunities.”
Guards Michael Flowers and Tyrell Roberts contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively. Flowers added four assists and three steals for a WSU team that shot 38.7% from the field against a 41.4% mark for OSU, which outhustled the Cougs for about 12 minutes in the first half and opened up a nine-point lead midway through the period. Forward Maurice Calloo led the Beavs with 20 points.
Bamba registered eight points in a two-minute span late in the first half, then threw down a thunderous one-handed jam early in the second during what Smith agreed was the sophomore’s best performance in conference action.
“I was just in ‘kill’ mode, to be honest,” Bamba said of his dunk. “I didn’t care who jumped. It could have been Shaq who jumped. I was still going to go up.”
WSU was playing its eighth game in 20 days. At times, that was apparent.
“I think we’re tired. I can’t lie,” Smith said. “It was tough. We got in at 3:30 in the morning after the game Monday. I usually gauge it by my fatigue level, and I don’t have to go to class.
“But we got the win. That usually lifts your spirits and we can go give a great effort Saturday.”
The Cougars host Oregon at 1 p.m. Saturday.