UCLA, WSU tied at 42 at half

Washington State has suffered through some scoring droughts before. Lots of times this year in fact. But the problems the Cougars have had scoring have usually been cause by either their offensive ineptitude or a stellar defensive effort. Not until Saturday was it caused by a lack of weapons. With Aron Baynes and Caleb Forrest saddled with foul trouble – I’ll let you comment on the correctness of Michael Greenstein’s whistles – the Cougars lost their inside presence, along with Forrest’s ability to hit the 15-footer. Baynes left with two fouls at the 9-minute mark and WSU leading by eight. He returned 4 minutes later with the Cougars leading by two. He helped them build it back to four, then picked up his third with 1:40 left. Though the score is tied, WSU has outscored the Bruins by 11 from the field, with Klay Thompson putting up 15 (he hit his first five shots) and Taylor Rochestie 12. The 42 points in the first half is a season-high for WSU as is UCLA’s total for an opponent. WSU shot 68 percent in the first 20 minutes - hitting 8 of its first 9 shots - while UCLA shot 62 percent. We’ll be back.