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Low's 3-pointers cap second-half rally for Washington State

Dec 1, 2007 - 6:09 AM WACO, Texas (Ticker) -- Derrick Low capped a furious rally to give Washington State its best start in 16 years.

Robbie Cowgill had 18 points and Low made the tying and go-ahead 3-pointers late in the game as the sixth-ranked Cougars posted a 67-64, come-from-behind victory over Baylor in the Big 12-Pac 10 Hardwood Series on Friday.

"A victory in a pretty hostile environment, on the road, against a quality team and make no mistake about it, their guards can play," Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. "You have to understand something about the other men in our program, they're about as good as it gets in terms of character. They showed they were a better team in the second half."

Washington State (7-0), which enjoys its highest ranking in school history, trailed by 12 points at the half and by as many as 14 early in the second half before rallying to match its best start since the 1991-92 season.

The senior Low, who was scoreless in the first half, made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60-60 with 3:02 remaining. On the Cougars' next possession, Low came around a screen on the right wing and nailed another shot from the arc to give Washington State a 63-60 advantage for its first lead since the 11:00 mark of the first half.

"I knew my shot was going to come around," Low said. "In the first half I give Baylor a lot of credit. I usually get some good looks coming off the screens but they chased the screens really well. You just have to keep shooting and eventually they will start to knock down and thank God it came at the right time."

After the Bears cut the deficit to one, Cowgill made a tip-in with 14 seconds left, and Henry Dugat's 3-point attempt hit the back rim, ending Baylor's chances at its first win over a ranked opponent in 29 tries.

Aron Baynes and Daven Harmeling each scored 10 points for the Cougars, who shot just 7-of-22 from the arc for the game. Low, who had averaged 15.5 points coming into the contest, scored nine points on 3-of-9 from the arc.

"Credit Washington State for making the big plays down the stretch," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "They showed why they're the sixth-ranked team in the nation. There are no moral victories for us, we're not happy about the loss, and we're not happy about being close.

"We're about winning these games because we're a team good enough to do that."

Washington State scored the game's first seven points before the Bears came back to tie the game at 7-7 with 15:19 left in the first half.

Baylor went on a 9-0 run to take a 20-14 lead midway through the first half, and Curtis Jerrells' 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer gave the Bears a 38-26 lead at the break.

After trailing, 44-30, at one point early in the second half, the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 48-47 with 11:10 remaining.

Kyle Weaver converted a three-point play with 6:54 to play to tie the game at 55-55. But LaceDarius Dunn answered on the next Baylor possession with a shot from the arc to give the Bears a 58-55 lead.

Aaron Bruce scored all 13 of his points in the second half for Baylor (5-1), which shot just 37 percent (10-of-27) in the second half after shooting 53 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

"They executed better in the second half, they didn't turn the ball over much and they got second chances," Bruce said. "We got a little bit happy with ourselves being 10 up at home. We were up by five with three minutes left, so we can only blame ourselves for letting it slip out of our hands.

"They wanted it more than we did in the end."