PULLMAN — Malachi Flynn scored 28 points with eight rebounds and five assists; Evergreen High grad Robert Franks added 19 points and five rebounds as Washington State held on in the final seconds to defeat Oregon, 78-76 on Thursday night.
The Cougars took the lead just before halftime on a Franks 3-pointer for a 37-35 advantage. Leading for most of the second half, it looked like a typical late game showing for the Cougars after Oregon went on a 13-2 run for their first lead of the second half 67-66 with 3:32 remaining.
Flynn’s 28 points put him two shy of his career high of 30 against Colorado at home. Flynn came up clutch with big buckets throughout the second half including an 8-0 run by himself with 10:22 remaining. Viont’e Daniels added 13 points for the Cougars (12-17, 4-13 Pac-12) including a three from the corner with 54 seconds left in the game to extend the Cougar lead 77-72.
“I think we are really confident right now, we’re playing together, we trust each other, we trust the coaches so I think everyone’s just on the same page right now and I think that is the biggest thing,” Flynn said.
Elijah Brown contributed with 18 points for the Ducks (19-11, 9-8 Pac-12), and Troy Brown Jr. added 17 points and six rebounds.
Pritchard had 16 for Oregon, but missed a big free throw to tie the game in the final 10 seconds and a potential game winning 3 at the buzzer.
“You could really see that they (Oregon) had started to gel and had tremendous momentum coming in here, and for us to beat them because our destiny lies in that Pac-12 tournament, and we still have work to do,” said WSU coach Ernie Kent. “Part of that work was proving to ourselves that we can play with the teams in the upper echelon.”
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: The loss puts the Ducks in a bad position heading into Pac-12 tournament play — effectively knocking them lower in tournament seeding by also affecting their chances of making the NCAA tournament after competing in the Final Four last season.
Washington State: The Cougars grab their fourth Pac-12 win of the season. A Cougar win is rare after starting the season 6-0. The victory doesn’t affect their seeding in the Pac-12 tournament, but it keeps WSU from finishing last in the conference. The Cougars have not won two games in a row since being 6-0.
UP NEXT
The Ducks travel to play Washington on Saturday.
The Cougars will host Oregon State on Saturday.
