Vanderbilt 78 - 74 Washington State
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Washington St. meets Vanderbilt in East Region matchup

Mar 17, 2007 - 1:39 PM Vanderbilt (21-11) at Washington St (26-7) 5:40 pm EDT

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- Vanderbilt and Washington State are looking to continue their storied seasons.

The third-seeded Cougars go in search of the first pair of wins in the NCAA Tournament since 1941 when they face the No. 6 Commodores on Saturday in the second round of the East Region.

Washington State picked up its first Tournament victory in 10 years with Thursday's 70-54 win against 13th-seeded Oral Roberts in the first round.

Ivory Clark had 19 points and a career-high five blocks to lead the way for the Cougars, who would like to improve on their 3-6 all-time record against current members from the Southeastern Conference.

First-year coach Tony Bennett has completely turned the Cougars' program around, going from last to a second-place finish in the Pac-10 Conference this season.

"We brought in a large group of high school seniors and gave them a lot of experience as freshmen and sophomores," Bennett said. "For this group, getting that close, they finally matured."

Vanderbilt bounced back from a 1-3 start to post coach Kevin Stallings' third 20-win season in Nashville and finish with the second-best record in the SEC at 10-6.

The Commodores are coming off an impressive first-round performance, a 77-44 thrashing of 11th-seeded George Washington.

On Thursday, Vanderbilt limited George Washington to a lowly 27 percent shooting from the floor - lowest for a foe in school history for the NCAAs.






Related News