Cougars crushed on senior night

WSU trailed by as many as 36 points in second loss to Beavers this season

EZEKIEL NELSON | THE DAILY EVERGREEN

Redshirt senior forward Drick Bernstine slams in a basket against Oregon State in his final regular season game Saturday evening at Beasley Coliseum.

TYLER SHUEY, Evergreen columnist

Senior night didn’t go as planned for WSU men’s basketball as they were routed 92-67 by Oregon State University on Saturday.

This marks the fourth time this season the Cougars have given up over 90 points in a game; twice against the Beavers. Redshirt senior forward Drick Bernstine and senior guard and former walk-on Steven Shpreyregin both started in their final home game as Cougars.

Shpreyregin scored a career high 10 points in 20 minutes of action and Bernstine racked up nine points and two steals.

Head Coach Ernie Kent said the Cougars didn’t respond when the Beavers kept attacking.

“I didn’t think we did anything right,” WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent said. “We didn’t compete, I didn’t think we punched back after we got hit in the mouth.”

OSU didn’t hesitate and kept the pressure on the Cougs, jumping out to a 20-2 lead from the start. By halftime, the Beavers had built a 25-point lead, while shooting 61 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The rest of the game was smooth sailing for OSU, as WSU couldn’t muster up much fight in the second-half.

Oregon State freshman guard Ethan Thompson lead all scorers with 23 points, while redshirt sophomore forward Tres Tinkle recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. In total, four Beavers racked up double digit points while Shpreyregin was the sole Cougar to score in double figures.

The usually consistent WSU duo of sophomore guard Malachi Flynn and junior forward Robert Franks were nonexistent in the final home game of the season. Flynn had nine points and four assists while Franks had similar numbers, with eight points and four rebounds, and did not score in the second-half.

Bernstine said the whole team collectively didn’t play well, especially on defensive.

“I think all of us didn’t play tough enough, honestly,” Bernstine said. “We didn’t lock in on defense at all, I can’t even think back to a possession where we played good defense.”

Kent hasn’t had a winning season at WSU since he came to Pullman in 2014. The Cougars last winning season was in 2011-2012.

Both teams will now spend the upcoming week preparing for the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. The Cougars are the 11 seed and will face sixth seeded Oregon on Wednesday in the first round of the tournament.

Kent said the Cougars need to figure out their identity before they take on Oregon.

“We need to find ourselves before we get down to Vegas,” Kent said.

WSU will play the Ducks 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.