Half again as good

LOS ANGELES – The desperate team won the first half. The better one won the game.

No. 11 Washington State, 8-1 on the season when trailing at halftime before Thursday night, did it again against archrival Washington.

The Cougars (25-6) scored a fifth straight win over the Huskies, emerging from halftime trailing by four but still holding the best cards thanks to a level of poise and confidence that a younger opponent couldn’t match.

With the 74-64 win, their third this season over Washington, the second-seeded Cougars march on to a Pac-10 men’s basketball tournament semifinal against USC, to be played at approximately 8:30 tonight. The Huskies (19-13) almost certainly needed to win this tournament to make the NCAA tournament following a sub-.500 conference season, and with the loss they are probably bound for the NIT.

“Our guys, they’re pretty confident,” said WSU coach Tony Bennett. “They play with poise and sometimes that’s the most important thing you can have.”

The Cougars came back with their usual balanced game. Early in the second half, when drives to the bucket were there for the taking, they found open layups and converted three three-point plays. When the Huskies went to a 2-3 zone for 7 minutes in the middle of the half, they found the occasional midrange jumper and offensive rebound. Throughout, they made free throws, hitting 21 of 25 in the second half after going to the line just four times in the first half.

Guard Taylor Rochestie, who was so clutch in the Cougars’ last game against USC six days ago, did it again against Washington. Down the stretch, he scored 11 of 16 WSU points, including a 3-pointer from the right side with a much-taller Adrian Oliver in his face. On the next Cougars possession, with the clock going to less than a minute, WSU cleared out to allow Rochestie to bank in a 16-foot jumper that provided a six-point lead.

The transfer from Tulane scored a game-high 20 points, the second consecutive time against Washington that he has led all scorers.

Since the Pac-10 tournament was added back to the schedule in 2002, WSU had not won a game, going 0-4 and failing to qualify for the event on two other occasions. As the second seed, the Cougars are the best regular-season team left, since Pac-10 champion UCLA lost earlier in the day.

USC is the third seed, and fourth-seeded Oregon will play eighth-seeded California for the other spot in Saturday’s finals.

A star from each team – Kyle Weaver for WSU, Spencer Hawes for UW – spent 11 minutes of the first half on the bench after picking up a second foul. As a result, unexpected contributors played a major role in the first half, especially for Washington.

Backup center Artem Wallace had eight points for the Huskies before halftime, beating multiple Cougars in the low post. The Cougars attempted to play Washington straight-up under the basket without using their double-team trap, but with center Aron Baynes also sidelined because of two early fouls it became difficult for them to continue with that strategy successfully.

With the low-post game working well, the Huskies shot 51.9 percent from the field on their way to the 36-32 edge.

Fortunately for the Cougars, their other All-Pac-10 guard, Derrick Low, rediscovered his shooting touch after a slump that lasted for much of the second half of the conference season.

Low scored 15 points, 12 in the first half, as he yielded to the hot hand in Rochestie down the stretch.

Notes

Two games went to overtime, including USC-Stanford immediately before the late game. The opening tip didn’t come until 9:20 p.m. … Washington guard Justin Dentmon, reinserted into the game with 3:35 left to play, quickly picked up a disqualifying fifth foul just 27 seconds later.

WSU 74, Washington 64

Percentages: FG .456, FT .900. 3-Point Goals: 3-9, .333(Appleby 3-7, Dentmon 0-1, Pondexter 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 1 (Oliver 1). Turnovers: 14 (Brockman 5, Hawes 3, Pondexter 2, Dentmon 2, Oliver, Wallace). Steals: 2 (Dentmon). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .522, FT .793. 3-Point Goals: 3-9, .333 (Low 2-4, Rochestie 1-4, Cowgill 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cowgill, Weaver, Clark). Turnovers: 8 (Weaver 3, Cowgill 2, Low, Hopson, Clark). Steals: 8 (Rochestie 2, Weaver 2, Harmeling 2, Baynes, Cowgill). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Washington 36, Washington State 32. A–16,585.