CORVALLIS, Ore. — Behind the wry smile, beneath the tan complexion, Tony Bennett’s blood still simmered in a back hallway at Gill Coliseum on Thursday night.
Yes, the 21st-ranked Washington State Cougars accomplished their ultimate mission — a 70-57 victory over Oregon State, sending the lowly Beavers to a school-record 14th consecutive defeat.
But the Cougars’ play lacked sharpness, their effort void of spirit — two things the second-year coach won’t tolerate.
Runs at crucial times, marked by the shooting of guards Taylor Rochestie (career-high 24 points) and Derrick Low (21 points) and the inside energy of Robbie Cowgill (nine points, 11 rebounds), carried the Cougars through this one.
“We got ourselves together, and came up with stingy defense at times, and made some plays,” Bennett said.
But a few things the coach likely will revisit in today’s off-day practice before taking on Oregon on Saturday:
n Rebounds: Under interim coach Kevin Mouton, Oregon State has committed to playing a lot more guys — younger players — and they got after it in the first half with eight offensive rebounds.
n Turnovers: A couple Cowgill traveling violations, a few mindless passes by the guards, and the Cougars (19-5 overall, 7-5 Pac-10) only led 29-21 at halftime despite holding Oregon State to a dismal 22 percent shooting clip (6-for-27).
n Kyle Weaver: This was the biggest surprise as the senior from Beloit, Wis., had easily his poorest game of the season. Part of it stemmed from a nagging right leg injury that forced athletic trainers to wrap it at halftime.
“We held Weaver to five points. Weaver is a pro, hands-down,” Mouton said. “There were lots of positives, and things we’ll take away from this game.”
Bennett couldn’t pinpoint reasons for any of the breakdowns, but remembered a Pacific-10 Conference road trip to Arizona State around this time last year when everything was a struggle for the Cougars, as if they hit the proverbial wall.
“We weren’t coming out of the gates with tons of energy,” Bennett recalled. “(Tonight), I thought we … steadied ourselves, and didn’t falter the rest of the way.”
If Oregon State (6-18, 0-12) could have found any spark — in its shooting, in a crowd that was half Beavers fans and half Cougars supporters who made the trip (totaling 5,321) — the game was there to take.
The Beavers were content, in spurts, to take 3-pointers, which they missed (6-of-22).
They did trim it to 37-31 on Lathen Wallace’s 3-pointer with 13 minutes, 53 seconds remaining, but the Cougars worked the ball on their end to center Aron Baynes, who kicked it out of a double team to a wide-open Low at the top of the arc.
Low made a 3-pointer for a 40-31 WSU advantage, and Rochestie followed with a lean-in 12-footer in the paint on WSU’s next trip for a 42-31 lead with 12:47 to go.
“They paid a lot of (attention) to the bigs, Baynes especially,” Rochestie said. “I found myself getting the ball kicked to me for an open shot, so I’m going to shoot it.”
“We didn’t play, that’s obvious. We had a lot of breakdowns. The energy wasn’t there, so that’s a little bit of a concern,” Cowgill said. “It’s a road win the Pac-10. Any time you can do that, no matter where it is, no matter who it is (against), it’s very good. We’ll take it.”
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