With 13:40 left in the second half, Washington guard C.J. Wilcox hit a three pointer to give the Huskies (13-9, 5-4) an eight point lead over the Cougars. It seemed as if Washington was going to pull ahead and win their seventh straight game over the Cougars (9-12, 2-7) in the last three years. However with a packed student section cheering loud and the return of their leading scorer DaVonte Lacy, WSU found a way to turn the game around by going on a 23-7 run which helped them achieve a 72-67 victory over their bitter rival, the Washington Huskies.

            “That’s a good team, Washington’s a very good ball club,” WSU men’s basketball Head Coach Ken Bone said. “I think they were in third place (in the Pac-12 Conference), tied for third tonight going into the game and they had a great game plan, they pushed it early, they had a lot of points on us in transition which was disappointing, but they’re really good in transition.”

            After missing the last six games with a rib injury, WSU junior guard DaVonte Lacy not only suited up for the Cougars, but in his first game back he played 33 minutes and scored ten points against the Huskies.

            “I got diagnosed I think it was four weeks ago and it was four to six weeks I looked at the schedule and it was UW, so I knew four weeks ago I was going to play this game,” Lacy said. “I trained to play this game, if that meant going a little bit harder, doing a little bit extra treatment, doing a little extra rehab, that was what I had to do because I was going to play in this game.”

            Lacy shot 0-of-4 from the field in the first half, and scored all 10 of his points in the second half. His first points came off of two free throws with 10:31 left to play in the game.

            “It’s always good to see the ball go in the hoop,” Lacy said. “My teammates kept finding me, DJ kept saying ‘hit a shot, you’re going to make it,’ (they) kept having confidence in me so why not shoot it.”

            In the first half, there was no separation between the two teams. The biggest lead for both teams was two points. WSU senior forward DJ Shelton ignited the 5,796 fans in attendance at Beasley Coliseum with a put back dunk off of a miss shot. After the dunk, Shelton continued his aggressive play by scoring nine points in the first ten minutes of the game.

            The Huskies lead the Cougars at the halfway mark by two points. After a sloppy first half of play on offense, both teams started to find their rhythm in the second half. First it was the Huskies who opened up the second half by going on a 15-9 run. The Cougars were not going to let this one get away like previous conference games and fought back.

            “We didn’t drop our heads, we just kept trusting in coach, (Bone) gave us some sets to run and we went out there and ran them and we hit shots,” Shelton said.

            During the 23-7 run in the second half it was WSU redshirt freshman Que Johnson who hit his shots. Johnson knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers which gave the Cougars a 52-45 lead with 6:34 left in the second half. The 6-foot-5, 205 pound guard finished the night scoring 15 points.

            “He’s (Johnson) getting his shots, he had 12 shots tonight from the field and really he should’ve scored more,” Bone said. “We’re going to him, he’s a good scorer, he’s a guy we think can produce points, with the amount of shots he had tonight and free throws, I really thought he would score  more than 15 (points). He’ll get there where he’s more consistent.”

           Shelton continued his dominance from the first half and scored nine points in the second half along with grabbing 12 rebounds. The senior finished the night with 20 points and 18 rebounds.

            “It’s nice to see because he’s (Shelton) really put in a lot of work and it’s his senior year,” Bone said. “There’s something to be said about being a senior and the last time going through conference it was DJ, this is his time and he’s taking advantage of it.”

            The Huskies continued to fight back and brought the game to as close as four points with 38 seconds left in the game, but turnovers killed their chances of coming away with a victory. The last time the Cougars defeated the Huskies was in 2011, where WSU won by a score of 87-80 at home.

            “(This win) it’s real important with the season we’ve been having,” Shelton said. “I think it’s a great place to just start new in a new Pac-12 second half, to just come out and turn our season around.”

            WSU looks to continue turning around their season when they travel to Boulder, Colo. to take on the Colorado Buffaloes (16-6, 5-4) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.