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Washington State bounces back with win over Oregon State

Jan 18, 2008 - 6:52 AM PULLMAN, Washington (Ticker) -- Washington State responded nicely from its first loss of the season.

Aron Baynes scored 17 points and Derrick Low added 15 as the eighth-ranked Cougars cruised to a 69-46 victory over Oregon State on Thursday night in a Pac-10 Conference matchup.

Taylor Rochestie finished with nine points and nine assists for Washington State (15-1, 3-1 Pac-10), which suffered an 81-74 loss to then-No. 5 UCLA on Sunday.

"We're good when we can have a balanced attack and when we take advantage of Baynes and even Robbie (Cowgill) down there," Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. "When Aron gets down low, he's a lot to handle."

With the Beavers holding a 9-7 edge after the first three minutes of the game, Rochestie made a pair of jump shots and sparked a 15-3 run for the Cougars.

Caleb Forrest capped the burst with a jump shot to give Washington State a 22-12 lead with 8:45 left in the half.

Leading by 10, Low and the Cougars did not let up at the start of the second half, scoring the first nine points - five by Low - after the break to take a 43-28 lead. The senior guard shot 6-of-9 from the floor and went 3-of-6 from the arc.

"The second half against UCLA, he established the right mind-set," Bennett said of Low. "He came out aggressive and we practiced that way all week and he came out and played that way today."

Washington State went on another burst later in the second half as 3-pointers by Daven Harmeling and Low highlighted a 10-0 run that made it 55-28 with 10:15 remaining.

Seth Tarver scored 12 points and his brother Josh Tarver added 10 with four steals for Oregon State (6-11, 0-5), which has lost seven straight games. The sophomores went a combined 8-of-13 from the field.

The Cougars shot 52 percent (27-of-52) from the field, while the Beavers made 42 percent (17-of-41) of their shots.

Kyle Weaver collected seven points and made four steals while Cowgill grabbed seven rebounds for Washington State, which outrebounded Oregon State, 33-17.

"They wanted the ball," Bennett said of his team's 13 offensive boards, "more of a mind-set to finish the play."