Both Washington St. and Pittsburgh were without their best player, and top scorer, again in the deciding game of the best of 3 CBI final series Friday in Pittsburgh, and it was the Panthers who leveraged a little more depth to the championship winning 71-65 victory over the Cougars.

Washington St.'s Brock Motum never saw action in the CBI finals after spraining his ankle in the Cougars' semifinal win over Oregon St., and Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs sat in both of the Panthers' home wins to conclude the season.

Reggie Moore had a game high 18 points, plus 5 assists for Washington St. (19-18), but Tray Woodall led 5 players in double figures for Pittsburgh (22-17), with 17 points and 7 assists.

The game was close most of the way, but the Cougars never led in the second half, and the Panthers opened a 12 point lead, the largest of the game, with 2 minutes left.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com