Cougars need motivation

BOISE – Despite a sluggish start, despite not playing what guard Taylor Rochestie termed Washington State basketball for most of the first half, despite a defensive effort coach Tony Bennett criticized, despite all that … WSU opened the road portion of the 2007-08 season with an 86-74 win over Boise State in front of 6,718 at the Taco Bell Arena.

The Cougars proved one thing: Even the ninth-ranked college basketball team in the nation can use a push once in a while.

“After we got a fire lit under our behinds, we kind of stepped to it,” senior guard Derrick Low said.

The fire-starter was Bennett and he took out the matches at halftime. The source of his slow burn: a first half in which WSU (2-0) allowed the Broncos to be the aggressors, get to the rim with impunity and build a lead that reached 13 midway though the opening period.

“The halftime talk was just about what you would expect,” Daven Harmeling said. “Before the game Tony talked about how we had to have an underdog mentality and the first half, how we played is as far from an underdog mentality as you can be.

“He called us fat cats, walking around like we were better than them, which isn’t true if we don’t bring it.”

The slow start resulted in a 16-6 deficit after 8 minutes. At that point, WSU uncharacteristically had as many turnovers as points.

“You know, it’s the first time we’ve been on the road,” Bennett said, “and even though you have experience with veteran players, it’s still a new experience for this year.”

BSU’s aggression had a price. The Broncos had three starters saddled with two fouls with more than 6 minutes until intermission. At that point they still led by 12, but the door was ajar.

Harmeling stepped through. Playing nearly the entire half with foul trouble incurred by Aron Baynes and Robbie Cowgill, the junior scored 13 first-half points, including WSU’s last nine. He finished with 18.

When he scored off a Rochestie assist to end the half, BSU’s lead was down to 32-26.

“At that time that was a big momentum change for us,” Rochestie said of the final play in which he penetrated, avoided a charge and hit Harmeling. “The team knew we could turn it around in the second half if we started playing more Washington State basketball.”

With Low coming out on fire – he hit his first five shots, four of them 3-pointers – the Cougars played, on offense at least, up to their No. 9 ranking in the latest Associated Press poll.

They caught BSU at 41 on Low’s third 3-pointer. They took a lead two possessions later when Baynes converted two free throws. In between, Harmeling missed a 21-footer.

The Cougars didn’t miss again for more than 6 minutes. They didn’t turn it over. They scored on 10 consecutive possessions. By the time Nic Koprivica was long on a 3, the lead was 16 and BSU was done.

“If you watched on the offensive end in the second half, you would have said, ‘Wow,’ ” Bennett said. “But defensively, we were better in stretches in the second half, but that was an area of concern, obviously, if you look at how they took it at us on the perimeter and inside.

“Our offense held us in there, while our defense kind of labored.”

Low finished with 26 points, all but two after halftime when he was 6 of 9 shooting. Kyle Weaver quietly had 19 points, 13 in the second half. The 6-foot-1 Rochestie added 12, along with a team-high seven rebounds.

The Broncos (1-1) were paced by the 18 points of guard Anthony Thomas and the 16-point, 10-rebound performance of forward Reggie Larry, who fouled out with 3:20 left. Former Eastern Washington center Matt Nelson had a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) but also was assessed a technical foul in WSU’s 23-7 deciding run.