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Cowgill's career effort keeps Washington St unbeaten at home

Jan 26, 2007 - 7:31 AM PULLMAN, Washington (Ticker) -- Robbie Cowgill made sure that Washington State kept rolling at home.

Cowgill scored eight of his career-high 18 points in the second half as the No. 18 Cougars held on for a 70-55 victory over Oregon State in a Pac-10 Conference encounter.

Kyle Weaver scored 12 points and Ivory Clark added 11 for Washington State (17-3, 6-2 Pac-10), which improved to 9-0 here this season while playing its first home game as a ranked team since 1950.

With their 13th win in the last 16 games in the series, the Cougars are off to their best start through 20 games since the 1948-49 edition went 18-2. They also ensured their first winning season since 1995-96, although they have 10 games remaining.

"The score is not indicative of how close the game was or how well Oregon State played," said Cougars coach Tony Bennett, who is in his first season replacing his father, Dick.

"It was a hard-fought one. I told our guys after the game, 'Welcome to the best conference in America.'"

Using a 13-2 run over the final 4:01 of the first half, the Cougars held a 30-23 lead at the break. Cowgill scored four points during the burst.

Although they finished 36 percent (22-of-61) from the field, the Beavers forged a comeback after the break, closing within 52-47 on a 3-pointer by Sasa Cuic with 8:15 remaining.

Washington State, however, answered back with an 8-0 run, including four points from Cowgill, who shot 7-of-11 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds.

"Definitely, we overcame some poor stretches and some guys stepped up," Bennett said. "That is a good sign for our ballclub."

Clark also had seven rebounds and five blocks and Daven Harmeling and Derrick Low added eight points apiece for the Cougars, who shot 48 percent (22-of-46) from the field and held a 41-34 edge in rebounds. It was just the third time in eight league games that Washington State won the battle on the boards.

Cuic scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half despite fouling out with 2:12 remaining and Marcel Jones chipped in 14 for Oregon State (9-12, 1-7), which absorbed its third straight loss.

Jones, the Beavers' leading scorer at 16.9 points per game coming in, struggled mightily in the second half, missing 6-of-8 attempts from the field.

Josh Tarver also had shooting issues, scoring 11 points despite finishing 4-of-14 from the floor for Oregon State, which continues a four-game road trip that includes meetings with UCLA and Southern California at Washington on Saturday.

The Huskies, who were ranked as high as eighth in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll before a recent slide, handed No. 7 Oregon its second loss of the season with an 89-77 win on Thursday.