Cougars shake ‘em up

PULLMAN – Dick Bennett preaches defense as a way of basketball life, and as such he has not been a happy teacher in recent weeks.

After his team gave up 76 points to BYU Tuesday night, Bennett decided to start making radical changes. Gone were Josh Akognon, Kyle Weaver and Chris Henry from the starting lineup. In went Randy Green, Antonio Chavers and Aron Baynes.

“I thought Brigham Young made us look silly, particularly our perimeter players,” Bennett said. “And so we did work very hard.”

On Saturday afternoon, in its first game after the BYU loss, Washington State made the Thanksgiving shake-up look worthwhile. It wasn’t pretty – anything but – yet the Cougars still cruised to a 63-37 win against next-door neighbor Idaho.

“We were hungry,” Bennett said. “I’ve been whipping the kids pretty hard the last two weeks. I’ve been on their case really hard.”

The Cougars (2-1) didn’t give Idaho much breathing room on offense – and the Vandals didn’t take much, either.

Idaho missed its last 11 shots of the first half and went without a field goal for a span of 14 minutes and 27 seconds that included the last 12 minutes of the first half. For the game, Idaho shot 29.3 percent from the floor and did little better when fouled, going 10 of 19 from the free-throw line.

At halftime, the Vandals (0-3) had 16 points and 14 fouls.

“They were improved, sure,” Idaho head coach Leonard Perry said, “but I think the onus was on Idaho today.”

Perry’s team had hung tough with Gonzaga in the season-opener but has now suffered big losses at Washington and WSU. The head coach suggested playing the Bulldogs close to start the season may have been a bad thing for his young team.

“I don’t want to forget it,” Perry said of Saturday’s loss on Friel Court before 2,135 fans. “And I don’t want to forget Washington either. What I’d like to forget is Gonzaga, because I think that was a false façade, if you will. And I think our kids, with our youth and inexperience, took something from that. And it really was nothing.”

The Cougars, meanwhile, spread their offensive production out over the entire roster. Eleven players scored, and no one on either team had more than 10 points. (Ivory Clark and Chavers had 10 for WSU; Tanoris Shepard the same for Idaho.)

WSU hit just 4 of 17 3-pointers but made up for it with a strong rebounding effort and the balanced scoring. It also didn’t hurt to have two new contributors on the floor. Rodney Edgerson, a junior college transfer who had just three practices under his belt, was cleared to play and got 12 minutes of time. Edgerson had been recuperating from a pair of stress fractures in his lower back and hadn’t done anything with the Cougars until this week.

“It was really exciting for me to be able to play,” Edgerson said. “I have no pain in my back right now.”

And freshman Caleb Forrest, originally ticketed for a redshirt year, played 20 minutes as WSU finds itself thin up front because of injuries.

That too is changing, however. Starting center Robbie Cowgill, whose broken collarbone was recently expected to keep him out for at least two more weeks, was given a thumbs-up by the team doctor after the game.

Washington St. 63, Idaho 37

Percentages: FG .293, FT .526. 3-Point Goals: 3-13, .231 (Haynes 1-1, Ledbetter 1-1, Dubois 1-4, Jakovljevic 0-2, Bowden-Key 0-2, Shepard 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 2 (Kale, Shepard). Turnovers: 17 (Shepard 3, Jakovljevic 3, Vrzina 2, Dubois 2, Watson 2, Smith 2, Haynes, Bowden-Key, TEAM). Steals: 4 (Shepard 3, Watson). Technical Fouls: Bench.

Percentages: FG .435, FT .633. 3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Chavers 1-2, Low 1-3, Matthews 1-3, Akognon 1-5, Weaver 0-1, Edgerson 0-1, Green 0-2). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked Shots: 3 (Clark 2, Weaver). Turnovers: 14 (Clark 3, Akognon 3, Weaver 2, Haynes, Low, Matthews, Henry, Edgerson, Forrest). Steals: 7 (Akognon 2, Clark, Low, Green, Weaver, Henry). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Washington State 31, Idaho 16. A–2,135.