Click here to download order form

With a little late help from Louisiana State, Washington State rewarded a crowd of 15,341 Tuesday night at KeyArena with a rousing 72-70 basketball victory over the Tigers in overtime.

Down two and with the Tigers shooting two free throws with 19 seconds left in regulation, WSU didn’t appear to have much chance to notch a 10th victory against two defeats.

But the Cougars scrapped back to knot it, send it to overtime and trailed only at the outset of the extra session. Never was it easy, though, against the Tigers, coached by Trent Johnson, a Franklin High grad and former Stanford coach.

After Rainier Beach product and LSU (8-3) freshman Aaron Dotson scored from the baseline for the first basket of overtime, fellow Beach grad Reggie Moore drove the lane and twisted in a six-footer and converted a free throw to give the Cougars the lead, 65-64.

A couple of missed threes by the Tigers, plus three free throws, one by Klay Thompson, two by Nik Koprivica, and the Cougars had a 68-64 lead.

They nudged it to 70-65 with 70 seconds showing, but LSU got a fast and deep three from Tasmin Mitchell to make it 70-68 with 1:03 showing.

Thompson, who finished with a game-high 26 points, hit two foul shots at 47 seconds but guard Bo Spencer answered with a flying drive at 43 seconds to make it 72-70, WSU.

After the Cougars ran the clock down and called time with 12 seconds left, Thompson was whistled for charging Tasmin Mitchell and LSU had one final chance with 8.2 seconds left.

They got it to Spencer, who had led LSU in the second half and scored a team-high 23 points. He raced upcourt against the defense of Marcus Capers, launched a tough three from about 23 feet and it bounced off into the hands of Thompson, giving the Cougars an exceedingly hard-earned victory.

In regulation, it was knotted at 60 when, after a timeout with 2:33 left, Spencer was whistled for a charge on Koprivica, turning it over to the Cougars.

With the shot clock winding down, Moore launched an unsuccessful 15-footer but LSU couldn’t control the rebound. Thompson then found Koprivica in the left corner for WSU and he had a clean look at a three, but missed and the Tigers rebounded.

LSU’s Mitchell set a high screen for Spencer, who had lit up the Cougars in the second half, and he stepped back and cleanly drained the perimeter jumper.

After a timeout, the Cougars found their sharpshooter, Thompson, but he missed on a three and LSU rebounded with 19.8 seconds left. That’s when Tigers guard Chris Bass left the door open for WSU by missing two free throws short.

Moore then penetrated and found DeAngelo Casto, who, after bobbling the pass underneath, laid the ball up to tie it at 62. LSU’s Spencer couldn’t control the ball coming upcourt and WSU got the ball after a scramble but couldn’t do anything with a mere four-tenths of a second left.

Casto had 13 points and seven rebounds, Moore scored 12 points and Koprivica had 11 for Washington State.

Mitchell had 18 points and 14 rebounds for LSU.

BOX SCORE

By Bud Withers

Seattle Times staff reporter

Click here for a special coupon.

As a result, tickets are going fast, we would recommended to purchase and print your tickets early to the event to secure the best seats available and to avoid waiting in line at the for tickets Tuesday night.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Be there to see one of the nation’s top scorers Klay Thompson and his Washington State Cougars (9-2) take on the defending SEC Champion LSU Tigers led by coach Trent Johnson.

Click here to purchase tickets.

“• Seriously, I would not be surprised if Washington State won the Pac-10. Washington and Cal should win the league but there is no reason to have complete faith in either one of those squads. No one in the league has been as dominant as Klay Thompson at Wazzu.

• Tasmin Mitchell came back to LSU for his senior season to be a leader and a productive player. He hasn’t disappointed. Mitchell has been Mr. Everything and so far, averaging nearly 17 points and almost nine boards a game for the Tigers. He had a 24-point and 18-rebound game for the Tigers against SE Louisiana.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4753876&name=katz_andy

This year’s event is anticipated to set the attendance record in the five year history of the Cougar Hardwood Classic presented by Seattlepi.com, breaking the mark of 12,471 set in 2007.  With a sizeable walk up crowd expected, fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance to avoid waiting in long ticket lines Tuesday night.

To purchase tickets contact Ticketmaster over the phone at 800-745-3000, visit any Ticketmaster outlet or go to www.ticketmaster.com.

The December 22^nd game at KeyArena remains a 7:00 pm tip, PT and marks the first time ever the Pac-10 Cougars will face an opponent from another BCS conference in their annual Seattle event, as Emerald City native Trent Johnson and his LSU Tigers take on WSU.

CBS College Sports Network can be found on channel 412 on Comcast Cable in Snohomish/King County in Washington, channel 613 on DirectTV and channel 152 on Dish Network.  CBS College Sports Network covers 25 men’s and women’s sports, while providing compelling coverage of over 300 live events each season, in addition to a variety of live studio shows and award winning original programming.   For more information, go to www.cbscollegesports.com.

Tickets for this exciting match-up are still available and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or at any Ticketmaster location.

WSU will be led by Klay Thompson who is currently ranked 3^rd in the country with an average of 25.1 points per game.

The Cougars and Tigers last played on December 27, 2008 in Baton Rouge and LSU rallied to win 64-52.  WSU led by seven points midway through the second half, but the Tigers went on a 24-5 run to end the game.  The Tigers lead the all time series 2-1.

Washington State is 4-0 all time in Cougar Harwood Classic presented by Seattlepi.com games.  In 2008 Klay Thompson led the Cougars with 14 points as they topped Montana State 70-51.  WSU has defeated The Citadel, San Diego State and Utah in the other three Cougar Hardwood Classic presented by Seattlepi.com games.

Washington State (6-0) also got 16 points and five assists from guard Reggie Moore as it registered the most lopsided title-game victory in the tournament’s 33-year history.

San Diego (4-2) was led by 13 points from all-tourney selection Brandon Johnson, but the Toreros went cold offensively in the second half and could find no answer for Thompson on the defensive end.

Thompson, a 6-foot-6 sophomore guard, shot 16-for-24 from the floor, 8-of-13 from the three-point range and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. His trey with 2:58 left in the game broke the mark of Purdue’s Glenn Robinson, who had 41 points against Portland in the 1993 title game.

Thompson’s eight 3-pointers also tied the record of St. Mary’s Eric Schraeder, who set that mark in a first-round, overtime loss to Iowa State in 1998.

For the tournament, Thompson wound up with 89 points, tying the Southwestern Louisiana’s Casey Green (1997) for the second-most in Shootout history. Robinson still holds the record with 97 points in 1993.

The Cougars’ shooting star had a mere 12 points at halftime as his team sprinted to a 12-3 lead and never trailed. WSU led 39-32 at the break and saw its lead trimmed to 45-43 on Clinton Houston’s jumper at the 16:15 mark.

After a Marcus Capers dunk stretched the advantage back to four, Thompson took over, scoring the next 11 Cougar points as the lead stretched back to 57-45. Starting with a three-pointer at the 15:13 mark, the Ladera Ranch, Calif., native poured in his final 27 points in a span of 12 minutes, 15 seconds, to seal the tourney’s Most Outstanding Player award.

Moore, who shot 5-of-6 overall (2-3 3-point field goals) and 4-of-4 at the charity stripe, joined Thompson and teammate DeAngelo Casto (eight points, five rebounds, three blocks) on the all-tournament team.

In addition to Johnson, the Toreros landed guard De’Jon Jackson (9 pts, 3 rebounds) and forward Chris Lewis (double-doubles in USD’s two victories) as all-tourney picks.

Washington State becomes the fifth Pacific-10 Conference school to claim a Shootout title, joining California (2006), Washington (2004), UCLA (1990) and Arizona (1987).

USD’s loss drops the West Coast Conference to 0-4 in Shootout title games, joining Loyola Marymount (2006), Gonzaga (2001) and Portland (1993) as runners-up.

2009 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout
All-Tournament Team
Malcolm Campbell – Alaska Anchorage
DeAngelo Casto – Washington State
Aubrey Coleman – Houston
Brandon Johnson – San Diego
Chris Lewis – San Diego
Kelvin Lewis – Houston
De’Jon Jackson – San Diego
Reggie Moore – Washington State
Brandon Walker – Alaska Anchorage
Tiny Gallon – Oklahoma
Most Outstanding Player: Klay Thompson, Washington State