No. 21 Washington St. 62, Oregon 53

2/16/2008 11:51 PM

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Taylor Rochestie and Derrick Low helped No. 21 Washington State build a lead with their 3-point shooting. Big man Aron Baynes took over inside when the game was on the line.

Rochestie scored 21 points, Low added 16 points and Baynes scored seven straight points in the final minute for Washington State, which ended a 12-game skid at McArthur Court with a 62-53 win over Oregon on Saturday night.

Baynes' run countered and Oregon spurt that had trimmed the Cougars' 12-point advantage to one, 47-46, with 4:44 to play.

``It was pretty much what the offense provided,'' said Baynes, who finished with 12 points. ``Guys just do a great job of distributing the ball and I was lucky enough to finish it off.''

Once Baynes put the Cougars up 54-49 with a dunk with 1:32 play, Rochestie went 7-for-8 from the free throw line to help seal the win.

``I like having the ball in my hands at the end of the game, especially at the free throw line when nobody's playing defense on you,'' Rochestie said. ``That helps, too.''

Washington State (20-5, 8-5 Pac-10) last won in Eugene in 1995. Earlier this season, it ended a 13-game losing streak to the Ducks (15-10, 6-7) with a win in Pullman.

Maarty Leunen scored 20 points to lead Oregon.

The Washington State defense, ranked third in the nation, was able to dictate the offensive flow from the start against the top-scoring team in the Pac-10.

Oregon, which made 32 3-pointers and averaged 81.5 points in its two previous games, was held to four 3-pointers on 17 attempts and 25.9 points below its season scoring average despite shooting 49 percent from the field.

``Our goal tonight was to contest every shot,'' Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. ``This is one of the best offensive teams in the country and we knew we needed to take away their outside shots.''

Oregon only made only 19 shots on 39 attempts. It had been averaging 28 and 57, respectively.

``You've got to run your offense really well (against them),'' Leunen said. ``They force you to shoot perimeter shots and play smart in the offense. We know they're going to slow down the game. You've got to beat them at their game because they're not going to speed up.''

Low shot the Cougars to an early lead with 11 points in the opening 6:39 to help the Washington State build a 17-11 lead.

Low made three of his four 3-pointers during that stretch.

After Leunen made Oregon's only 3-pointer of the first half to cut the Cougars lead to 20-16, little-used Duck big man Mitch Platt come off the bench to score six straight points, giving Oregon a 22-20 with 6:16 left in the half. Washington State answered with a 10-2 run to go into the break up 30-24.

The Cougars continued their surge to start the second half, getting 3-pointers on three straight possessions two by Rochestie and another by Low to go up 41-29 with 16:10 to play. The Ducks followed with a 10-1 run and cut Washington State's lead to 42-39 after a 3-pointer by Leunen at the 12:21 mark.

But Rochestie answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the game and Baynes added a dunk off a rebound to put the Cougars back up 47-39 with 10:59 to play.

Washington State Struggled after that, missing on its next eight shots over the course of 7:36 and the Ducks took advantage, pulling to 47-46. The Cougars went inside on their next two possessions, ending their scoreless run with a layup by Baynes, followed by a three-point play from Baynes to go back up 52-47 with 2:43 left.

After a floater by Oregon's Tajuan Porter cut the lead to 52-49, Baynes again came up big with a dunk driving in from the baseline.