The Washington State men’s basketball team (10-11, 4-5) upset the Stanford Cardinal (15-6, 6-3) 89-88 at Beasley Coliseum on Saturday night. Stanford initially raced off to a 14-point lead in the first half, before the Cougars clawed their way back to take the lead. WSU used a balance attack to upset the Cardinal.

Sophomore Que Johnson’s 12 first half points kept the Cougars in the game, despite Stanford’s hot start. (Courtesy of KGMI)

Dorian Pickens hit a three-point jumper as time expired to bring the Cardinal within one of the Cougars, but it was too little too late. Pickets rebounded a wild Chasson Randle three-point shot with less than a second left on the game clock. unfortunately for Stanford, Pickens three pointer didn’t matter because freshmen point guard Ny Redding hit a pair of free throws to give WSU a four point lead. Redding was fouled after he rebounded a Stanford shot that rattled around the rim before harmlessly hitting the floor.

Washington State actually had a chance to put the game away with two minutes left, the Cougars led 83-76, when Jordan Railey hit a free throw to extend it their lead to eight (84-76). Stanford then went on a 7-0 run to close within one of the Cougars with 46 seconds left in the game. DeVonte Lacy put an end to the Cardinal run when he hit one (of two) free throw with 36 seconds left in the game, to extend the Cougar lead to two (85-83).

Redding and Iroegbu’s free throws put the game out of reach for Stanford.

Stanford started off the game on fire as they built an early 10-3 lead, which forced WSU head coach Ernie Kent to call a timeout and get his team back on the same page. Kent’s offensive adjustments worked as the Cougars started to hit open buckets, while the team continued to struggle on the defensive end of the court. And the Cardinal were able to build an early 14 point lead.

Eventually, the Cougars started getting stops on the defensive; which led to Washington State rapidly closing the gap on Stanford. WSU ended up going into the halftime locker room with a 42-41 lead.

Que Johnson played a major part in the Cougars first half comeback as he scored 12 points. He struggled to find his stroke in the first five minutes, but once he did Stanford was unable to stop him. As Johnson hit a pair of three pointers, and several dunks to close the gap. Johnson finished the night with 14 points.

The win put an end to the Cougars four game losing streak.

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