HORSE$#@! ON THE PALOUSE

TAJUAN PORTER DID his part -- and the referees did theirs Thursday -- in one of the great robberies in recent Pac-10 basketball history. WSU, seemingly victorious with a DeAngelo Casto layin in the final moments of overtime, was whistled for a technical when bench players jumped onto the court to rejoice. Porter converted the two T's to send the game to a second OT and then won near the buzzer.

Curiously, Oregon's bench hit the floor on that final Duck bucket, too, but no technical was called.

The final score was 91-89. The loss was a stunner for the Cougar faithful as they watched their team claw back from a 15-point deficit to tie the game and then, for all intents and purposes, win it when Casto took a nifty pass from Klay Thompson and converted -- seemingly at the buzzer of the first OT -- to go up 80-78.

The Cougar bench jumped to the sky. And the refs, making a call that's almost unheard of in such circumstances, ruled a technical on WSU.

The loss overshadowed heroic work down the stretch by Casto, Thompson and others.

Thompson led all scorers with 33 points. He made 19 of 21 from the free throw line. Porter led Oregon with 31 -- with 18 of those points coming in the two overtimes.

Casto registered his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The Cougars, now 10-3 on the season, take on Oregon State (a loser to UW on Thursday) this Saturday at 4 pm in a game that will be televised on FSN. Oregon is 9-4.