PACIFIC 10 ROUNDUP : Ellison Refuses to Allow Washington State to Lose

When Washington State Coach Kevin Eastman finally ran out of things to say, Donminic Ellison let his shooting do the talking.

“I feel I’m the leader of this team, and I had to do something,” said Ellison, who scored 27 points in the second half Saturday, including 24 in the final eight minutes, to help the Cougars overcome a 16-point deficit in a 92-89 victory over California at Berkeley.

Said Eastman: “Late in the game, quite frankly, I was out of things to tell my players. He refused to let us lose. If you saw him in the huddle, every part of his body left the message, ‘Hey, we’re not going to lose this game.’ ”

Washington State, 16-11 overall and 10-8 in the Pacific 10 Conference, is hoping to attract an NCAA tournament bid.

Cal (13-14, 5-13) ended a disappointing season.

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Stanford 74, Washington 65--Brevin Knight scored 22 points and Tim Young and Andy Poppink each had 14 as the Cardinal (19-8, 10-8) defeated the Huskies (9-18, 5-13) at Palo Alto to solidify its bid for an NCAA tournament berth.

Stanford, which overcame an early 15-point deficit, made 23 of 27 free throws, with Knight making all 14 of his foul shots.

Young, a freshman, had 13 rebounds to help the Cardinal gain a 45-26 rebounding edge.