COUGS STORM BACK TO WIN A THRILLER

JUST HOW MANY THRILL RIDES do these Cougars have in them? In a game where Washington State trailed by as many as 14 in the second half, the Cougs came charging all the way back and more -- on the road and against a rising Baylor squad. Everyone had a hand in this one including Robbie Cowgill and Derrick Low, both coming up huge down the stretch.

Robbie Cowgill, out of Austin, Texas, was having a solid all-around game in front of the family and friends who had traveled to Waco. In crunch time, the Wazzu senior took it to another level . Rebounds, passes, steals -- plus one humongous tip in on the way to leading all scorers -- helped WSU complete a stirring comeback that left 10,000-plus screaming Baylor partisans in stunned silence.

Last year, if having an off night shooting, Derrick Low would have looked first to get his teammates more involved. He still plays an unselfish game but with time winding down Friday, the senior guard -- confidently -- called for the rock and buried two straight treys. One knotted the score, the second put the Cougs up for good.

Washington State opened with a 7-0 run but Baylor reeled off seven of their own in front of the hyped up crowd. With the Cougars up 14-12, Baylor began to methodically pile up momentum and points. More critical, Cougar fouls began to pile up.

Aron Baynes and Kyle Weaver both sat for significant minutes in the first half after picking up their second foul. Baynes incredibly played only 13 minutes on the night, while Weaver had just 25.

The Cougs committed a devastating 11 first half turnovers. Some were careless miscues, others were due to the quick, energized defense of Baylor. Worse was the Cougar defense, who uncharacteristically gave up loads of transition points.

But with Baynes and Weaver on the pine, Daven Harmeling, Nikola Koprivica and Caleb Forrest combined to do enough to keep WSU in striking distance and set up the second half fireworks.

And did the Cougars ever strike back.

With Wazzu trailing by 12 at the half, Baylor increased it's lead to 14 a minute into the final stanza. Washington State has been a second half team this year, but the task in front of them -- trying to come back from 14 down, on the road, in a charged atmosphere, all while getting out-quicked -- was, because of the deficit, uncharted territory.

Five buckets by five different Cougar players followed -- including 3-balls by Daven Harmeling, Low and Taylor Rochestie -- and a 13-4 run cut the deficit to 48-43 with 12:49 left.

A Kyle Weaver steal and bucket trimmed the lead to three. Washington State pulled to within a single point on two subsequent occasions but old 'mo swung back and forth like an overclocked metronome.

The Cougs tied the game at 54-all with just under seven minutes left on a Weaver free throw. Baylor counterpunched, seemingly taking command with a 5-0 run. It tuned out that was simply prelude to an 8-0 crimson spree -- Harmeling canned a pair of free throws and Low then buried the successive treys in the nylon cord.

The second 3-ball by Low was a piercing, high archer -- the kind Low makes when you get the feeling he knows he can't miss. The difference is that last year that shot came on a night he had already shown the hot hand. Friday, Low was 1-of-8 shooting before nailing the two daggers from downtown. His second trey put the Cougs in front for the first time since the score was 14-12.

Baylor cut it to one on a lay-up but Baynes' jump-hook with 1:11 to go pushed the margin back to three. Baynes fouled out the next Baylor trip down the floor -- replays appeared to show he got all ball -- and Baylor made both free throws.

With 40 seconds left, Cowgill on the most critical posession of the game slid down the weakside of the lane, out-positioning two Baylor big men and tipped in a Weaver miss. Ball game. Baylor's three-point attempt clanked, Cowgill grabbed the rebound and cleared to Rochestie who dribbled out the clock.

In their toughest test of the young season, the No. 6 ranked Cougars (7-0) were led by Cowgill's 18, the forward hitting 8-of-13 from the field while pulling down five rebounds, three of them on the offensive end.

Baynes scored 10 on 4-5 shooting despite the extended time on the pine in foul trouble. Harmeling's 10, and Rochestie's nine points, were as big as any. Both hit two 3-pointers apiece and Harmeling went 4-4 from the charity stripe.

Weaver scored eight points -- all in the second half -- with five boards and two assists to his credit. Low's nine points came on three 3-pointers, and he added two steals, two assists and a block.

Washington State committed 14 turnovers in the game, but only three in the second half. Baylor had six fast break points, but all came in the game's first 20 minutes. The Cougs outscored the Bears in the paint, 32 to 28, and they also held the edge in points off turnovers -- WSU with 21 to Baylor's 16.

Washington State's bench scored 14 points in the narrow win, led by Harmeling. Washington State shot 49 percent for the game. Baylor's movement and shooting was crisp in the first half, the Bears hitting on 53 percent from the field. The Cougar defense held the Bears, however, to 37 percent shooting in the second.




Box Score: Washington State vs Baylor
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VISITORS: Washington State 7-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Cowgill, Robbie.. f  8-12   0-1    2-2    3  2  5   0  18  0  1  1  1  35
11 Baynes, Aron..... c  4-5    0-0    2-2    1  0  1   5  10  0  3  1  0  13
02 Low, Derrick..... g  3-11   3-9    0-0    0  3  3   2   9  2  2  1  2  34
10 Rochestie, Taylor g  3-5    2-3    0-0    1  4  5   0   8  4  3  0  0  38
25 Weaver, Kyle..... g  3-6    0-1    2-3    0  5  5   4   8  2  3  1  0  25
01 Sauls, Stephen...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
04 Koprivica, Nikola    1-4    0-3    0-0    0  1  1   2   2  0  0  0  0  15
32 Harmeling, Daven     2-6    2-5    4-4    0  2  2   0  10  0  1  0  1  30
52 Forrest, Caleb...    1-2    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   2  2  1  0  0   9
   TEAM.............                         3  1  4
   Totals...........   25-51   7-22  10-11   9 18 27  13  67 10 14  4  4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0%   2nd Half: 13-26 50.0%   Game: 49.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-9  22.2%   2nd Half:  5-13 38.5%   Game: 31.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  0-0   0.0%   2nd Half: 10-11 90.9%   Game: 90.9%    1

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HOME TEAM: Baylor 5-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 Rogers, Kevin... f  4-12   0-0    0-0    3  8 11   4   8  0  4  0  1  28
50 Lomers, Josh.... c  3-3    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   3   6  0  4  0  1  23
00 Jerrells, Curtis g  5-10   1-4    0-0    1  1  2   0  11  3  0  0  1  28
05 Dugat, Henry.... g  3-7    0-3    3-3    2  1  3   1   9  2  0  2  1  27
14 Bruce, Aaron.... g  5-12   3-7    0-0    0  0  0   2  13  1  3  0  0  20
24 Dunn, LaceDarius    4-9    3-5    0-0    1  1  2   0  11  0  1  0  0  21
25 Thiam, Djibril..    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   0   2  0  1  0  0  17
40 Shepherd, Mark..    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   4   0  0  2  2  0  12
45 Carter, Tweety..    1-3    0-2    2-2    0  1  1   0   4  2  0  0  0  24
   TEAM............                         3  1  4
   Totals..........   26-57   7-21   5-5   13 17 30  14  64  8 15  4  4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-30 53.3%   2nd Half: 10-27 37.0%   Game: 45.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  4-12 33.3%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-3  100 %   2nd Half:  2-2  100 %   Game: 100 %    0

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Officials: Steve Welmer, Ted Hillary, Curtis Shaw
Technical fouls: Washington State-None. Baylor-None.
Attendance: 10193
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Washington State..............   26   41  -   67
Baylor........................   38   26  -   64
2007 Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series
4th Largest Crowd in Ferrell Center History, Largest since 2003 (Texas 10,311)
Fouled Out: WSU: #11 Baynes 0:40

Points in the paint-WSU 32,BU 28. Points off turnovers-WSU 21,BU 16.
2nd chance points-WSU 6,BU 11. Fast break points-WSU 2,BU 6.
Bench points-WSU 14,BU 17. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-WSU 2nd-00:11, BU 2nd-01:32.
Largest lead-WSU by 7 1st-17:12, BU by 14 2nd-18:54.