WSU-Stanford: Lopez & Company Win

The Pac-10 semi-final game pitting No. 3 seeded Washington State against No. 2 seeded Stanford played out according to form. No. 2 defeated No. 3. Final score: Sanford 75—WSU 68

Washington State knew what everyone else in the Pac-10 understood about this Stanford Cardinal team. To win, you must contain the Lopez twins. In particular, it’s imperative that Brook Lopez is frustrated and forced away from the paint. Knowledge can be empowering, but only if you can act appropriately.

For much of the game, WSU Coach Tony Bennett saw his front line players do a fair job of keeping Brook Lopez out of the paint. That didn’t seem to matter. Brook had his soft hook shot working to perfection. When his deft shot attempts didn’t fall, the shooters touch bounce was easily converted for a tip in.

The Cougs defense was tenacious from beginning to end. They held the Cardinal to 44 percent shooting from the floor. What did Coach Trent Johnson have to counter WSU pressure? Simple. Stanford crashed the offensive boards big time. They collected a massive 14 offensive rebounds. That was the difference in the game.

A career night for Kyle Weaver wasn’t enough. Weaver was amazing. He scored 25 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out four assists and stole the ball away from Stanford three times.

Holy crap! Weaver was everywhere except at center court following the final buzzer celebrating a win. His effort wasn’t enough to offset the brilliant 30 point night by Brook Lopez.

Riding on the backs of the Lopez twins, this game would have been a blow out for the Cardinal were it not for the incredible three-point accuracy of Washington State. As a team, they were 12-20 from long distance. Daven Harmeling led the way with a perfect 4-4. Harmeling looked like his ankle wasn’t giving him trouble which bodes well for NCAA Tournament play.

The game was a seesaw affair for the first 15 minutes. Both coaches were making smart moves and the players were executing pretty well. Stanford was able to rattle WSU into uncharacteristic turnovers.

The Cougs were frustrating their opponents, with one exception. Brook Lopez was in a zone that allowed him to impose his will at both ends of the court. Turnovers by WSU were the first half story though. Stanford converted them into 13 points, the key to their 34-30 halftime lead.

There was no quit in either team. The efforts expended on the court translated into a tremendously entertaining college basketball game for fans.

Have to mention officiating once again. This hasn’t been a good year for the Pac-10 men in striped shirts. They have been much too visible because of the way games have been officiated. But at least one of the refs last night had a conscious.

With about 5 minutes left in the game, there was a scramble for a loose ball in the paint near the Cardinal basket. Bodies were flying and whistles shrieked play dead. Taylor Rochestie was a little too aggressive and fouled Lawrence Hill.

That’s where things went weird. For some reason, the foul was assessed against Aron Baynes instead of Rochestie. Thanks to world class Cougar Glenn Wallmark, this blogger was sitting right behind the Stanford bench and had a great view from one of the seats he purchased.

Baynes was as close to Hill as yours truly. In other words, there’s no way Baynes deserved his fifth foul, rendering him ineligible to play further. He went through an all too familiar act of being totally shocked. You know, there’s never been a good call made against him thus far!

Strangely, Taylor was dashing from one referee to the other pleading the case of mistaken identity. The foul wasn’t on number 11, it was on number 10, his number.

Since both players are well coached by Tony Bennett, they knew not to go ballistic in a close game because a technical foul might make the difference between winning and losing. On top of that, acting the fool by going into a frenzy over a bad call doesn’t show either class or respect.

Baynes sauntered to the sidelines.

Hill made his free throws.

The guilt of making a bad call didn’t weigh as heavy on Cougar fans as it did on one official. As the Cougs brought the ball up court following the made free throws, the desire to set things right got the best of the officials.

They stopped play.

No one had an idea what was going on. No one. OK, the officials had the inside scoop, but they were only sharing their scheme with the television stage director who controlled the courtside monitor.

There was a buzz throughout Staples Center.

Sure enough, both Baynes and Rochestie were right. The officials changed the foul assessment and Baynes returned to the game. Wow! Maybe there really is a Santa Claus. Now that we’ve witnessed that bizarre turn of events, how could you question much of anything?

Turns out that Christmas wasn’t going to come early for Cougar Nation.

Stanford earned a hard fought win.

The Cougs will wait now to see where they will play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Cougar Nation must stay tuned for the next chapter in the evolution of Washington State basketball.

GO COUGS!!!