23Washington State 82 - 81 UCLA
Final
  for this game

Rochestie's career day helps Washington State shock UCLA

Feb 22, 2009 - 2:28 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Taylor Rochestie helped Washington State exorcise some demons at Pauley Pavilion.

Rochestie scored a career-high 33 points, leading the Cougars to an 82-81 upset of No. 15 UCLA on Saturday.

Freshman Klay Thompson added 15 points and a key block late as Washington State (14-13, 6-9 Pac-10) picked up just its second win ever at Pauley Pavilion. The Cougars had lost four straight here and nine in a row in the series since a 55-48 win on February 5, 2004.

UCLA leads the all-time series at 94-14.

Nikola Dragovic scored a career-high 23 points and Darren Collison added 20 for UCLA (20-7, 9-5), which suffered a letdown after beating No. 22 Washington on Thursday.

The Bruins had no answer for Rochestie, who scored 14 points in the final three minutes, going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the win.

"He's a fifth-year senior that nobody wanted," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "He's a great story. I got a lot of respect for that kid. He's a great competitor. He willed them today, especially in the first half. He's a great player and I'll be voting for him, obviously, for all-league."

Rochestie's free throws with nine seconds left made it 82-78, but Dragovic drilled a 3-pointer with five ticks left.

Nikola Koprivica missed a pair of free throws and UCLA got the rebound and quickly advanced the ball to Josh Shipp at midcourt.

Shipp's desperation 3-pointer was blocked by Thompson as the buzzer sounded.

"This feels great because we've been close against UCLA so many times and been close this year in games so many times," said Washington coach Tony Bennett, who had lost his first five meetings with the Bruins. "We matched them in scoring. I wish we'd score like that all the time. That would be fun."

Washington State took control of a close game with a 14-3 run midway through the second half. DeAngelo Casto's layup capped the spurt and put the Cougars up, 67-59, with 5:33 left.

Rochestie then proceeded to keep the Bruins at bay by scoring 12 straight points. He finished 9-of-16 from the floor - including 5-of-7 from 3-point range - and 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Washington State shot 59 percent (30-of-51) from the field after hitting 12 of its first 16 shots.

But the Bruins rallied from an eight-point deficit and forced a 42-42 deadlock after 20 minutes. UCLA shot 53 percent (29-of-55).






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