Washington State opened its season at No. 22 Gonzaga tonight in front of a crowd of 6,000. All eyes were on the game as it jump-started ESPN's 2011 College Hoops Tip-off Marathon, in which the network airs over 24-consecutive hours of college basketball on its family of networks. The Cougars rallied late, but fell 89-81, thanks in large part to the hot hand of the Bulldogs' Kevin Pangos who tied a school record with nine 3-pointers and a game-high 33 points.

A special thanks to all the Crimson ZZU's Twitter followers (@WSUHoopsBlog) for your input, support and follows! Our player of the game today was picked by those of you on Twitter.

Player of the Game: Brock Motum. The 6-10 junior from Brisbane, Australia earns the prize for being the most consistent Cougar all night. He finished with a team-high 17 points and career highs with eight rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes. At the half he was 4-for-5 from the field for 10 points.

Play of the Game: Motum Drives and Skies. Motum continues his accolades on this postgame as he earns play of the game for his first-half dunk. He started on the left baseline, drove against his man and ferociously went up with one hand for the easy two points. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw, but his dunk was a powerful one.

Turning Point: Free throws down the stretch. The turning point looked to be early in the second half, but with the Cougars' late comeback, the turning points instead falls in the final 30 seconds. WSU clawed back from 21 points down with 13 minutes to go and pulled within three at 84-81 and 28 seconds to go in the game. Reggie Moore had just scored six-straight points for the Cougs, a 3-pointer and three free throws after a foul while shooting a trey. The Cougs fouled after Moore's 3-pointer and Robert Sacre made both his free throw shots. WSU couldn't convert on its next three opportunities and Gonzaga made three more free throws to hold on for the 89-81 victory.

Stat of the Game: Specialty Stats. Points in the paint, points off turnovers and second chance points each waved heavily in one team's favor. Points in the paint and off turnovers belonged to Washington State. The Cougs held a 32-16 advantage in the paint, 12 of which came from Motum. The Cougs had a 23-11 advantage off turnovers, although each team committed 13 turnovers. When it came to second chance points it was all Gonzaga, 19 compared to six. The Bulldogs did win the battle on the boards with 41 compared to 33, 14 on the offensive end.

The Cougars will look for their first win of the season Thursday, Nov. 17 as they host Sacramento State in nonconference action at 7 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.

Go Cougs!