Washington State prevailed in a captivating overtime thriller that put a storybook ending on the home careers of its senior class.

The Cougars (13-17, 7-11) honored their senior class on senior night and led for more than 33 minutes, but it appeared they might let one slip away against the Colorado Buffaloes (14-16, 7-11).

After trailing 77-75 with eight seconds to go, Head Coach Ernie Kent looked to his senior leader DaVonté Lacy. Lacy didn’t disappoint – he hit a game-tying jumper to send the game into overtime, where the Cougars carried their momentum to a 96-91 victory over Colorado.

The Cougars had an opportunity to tie the game thanks to a hustle defensive play by junior forward Junior Longrus and sophomore guard Ike Iroegbu. The pair forced a jump ball on the inbounds pass to Colorado senior guard Askia Booker with eight seconds left. Kent called for a timeout and drew up a play for his star guard.

“He drew up the play and he said basically once I got it there was going to be a ball screen,” Lacy said. “Jordan (Railey) was supposed to set it, he didn’t come and then Josh (Hawkinson) was going to set it and he just got away and he said when you come off the ball screen to create something and I didn’t have a ball screen so I just created something. I wasn’t playing my best game arguably, but I made the shot.”

The energy in the building was electric to start the overtime period and it continued to build after senior guard Dexter Kernich-Drew hit a three on the first possession.

Following the three, senior Jordan Railey chased down Booker for a monster block and Lacy followed up Kernich-Drew’s three with a three ball of his own.

Each Cougar senior registered an overtime field goal. Kent believes the seniors showed their leadership skills with their performance in crunch time.

“I thought for Dex (Kernich-Drew) to hit the three, DaVonté (Lacy) to hit the three and Jordan (Railey) score to open it up, that was huge,” Kent said. “That was senior leadership that did that and you’re right that was the thing that got us over the hurdle so that’s what I meant by both groups (underclassmen and seniors) did their part and the underclassmen did their part and the seniors did their part particularly in the overtime.”

Iroegbu and sophomore forward Josh Hawkinson led the Cougars for most of the game. Hawkinson recorded his 19th double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The 10 rebounds gave Hawkinson a total of 323 rebounds for the season, tying him with former-Coug Ted Werner for the most in a single-season. Werner registered 323 in 1964.

Iroegbu played arguably the best game of his young career. He scored 18 points and had 11 assists with five rebounds while only committing three turnovers. He was in full control of the offense all night.

Iroegbu said it was important that his younger team members play with intensity to send the seniors out with a win in their final game at Beasley Coliseum.

“Coach Kent, he was talking to us and he was like ‘Even though it’s senior night, the underclassmen, we got to step up and we can’t let the seniors lose on their last home game at Beasley,’” Iroegbu said.

“I took that to heart and really made it a point to play well for DaVonté, Jordan and Dex, so I’m really glad that I played well for them and now that we got that out the way, I’m just excited to get down to Vegas and play in the Pac-12 tournament.”

The seniors combined for 46 points with Railey contributing 12 points and four rebounds while Kernich-Drew finished with 17 points on 7-8 shooting. Lacy scored 17 points and dished out three assists on the night.

Now the Cougars will shift their focus to the Pac-12 tournament where they will be the No. 9 seed. WSU will face No. 8 seed California (17-14, 7-11) in the first round on Wednesday. The two teams split their regular season series with both teams winning on the road. Kent believes the tournament will provide a fresh start for the Cougars.

“You’re going down to Vegas and everybody is 0-0,” Kent said. “We want to fight down there to give ourselves an opportunity to get to just the next game, you have to look at it as just get to the next game and that’s what we are going to do.”

The Cougars will begin their quest to advance to the next game Wednesday at noon against California. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.