Cougs slow, but still sure
There’s been two areas in which the ninth-ranked Washington State Cougars have been consistent this season.
They start slow and they win.
They did both again Friday night at the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge, struggling early but pulling away in the second half to defeat the University of Montana 66-55 before 5,524 at the Spokane Arena.
In the round-robin men’s basketball tournament’s first game, Air Force routed Mississippi Valley State, 58-40.
“I told these guys, when you’re struggling a little bit offensively, your defense has got to hold you in there,” WSU head coach Tony Bennett said. “And it did, once we got maybe 8 minutes into the game.”
The Cougars defense had to come to the rescue then because the offense, especially from senior wings Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, wasn’t there.
Low was 2 of 6 from the floor in the first half while Weaver was not even getting shots, going into halftime 0 for 2 from the field.
“We have had some trouble shooting at this Arena, but I don’t think that’s an excuse,” Low said.
Point guard Taylor Rochestie and center Aron Baynes didn’t seem to mind the venue, taking up the slack by splitting 16 first-half points. That total included a Rochestie drive with 3 seconds left that gave WSU a 28-26 lead at intermission.
“When your shots aren’t falling, you have to find different ways to score,” Rochestie said. “I think we did a good job of that.”
“We came out with a lot of momentum in the first half,” said Montana center Andrew Strait, who had 10 first-half points but none in the second. “We were a lot more physical and did a good job executing our offense.
“They outplayed us a little bit in the second half.”
The Cougars (4-0) jumped on the Grizzlies out of the locker room with a 7-2 run that included Weaver’s first basket, a fastbreak layup a little more than a minute in.
“That was the plan, not do anything the first half and try to score in the second,” Weaver said, laughing. “It just didn’t fall for me in the first half. I had a couple looks, missed a jumper or two and missed an easy one early.
“The second half I got it going and I tried to attack a little bit more. I got some good looks, got some good drives. Things started to flow offensively in the second half.”
The Grizzlies, who are 3-2, with both losses coming in Spokane – 77-54 at GU two weeks ago – crawled back within five at 44-39 with 12 minutes left. Then the bottom fell out.
Over the course of seven possessions with the 6-foot-8 Strait resting on the bench, Montana had four turnovers, two misses and a lone three-point play from freshman center Brian Qvale.
The Cougars, meanwhile, executed their offense and built an insurmountable 57-42 lead behind Rochestie’s two 3-pointers and four points from Low.
“Our system didn’t change,” Bennett said of the defensive surge. “Guys were just trying to be active on the ball inside. We got our hands on some of those passes, then obviously we got some transition baskets out of it.”
Those baskets led once again to balanced scoring, with Rochestie leading the way with 17 points and six assists. Baynes, who had a game-high nine rebounds, teamed with Low for 28 more points while Weaver finished with 12 points and five assists.
Cameron Rundles led Montana with 13 points, though he hit just 4 of 11 shots as UM shot 39.6 percent as a team. The Griz also had 14 turnovers, twice as many as WSU.
The aggressive nature of the Cougars’ second-half attack paid off in another way. At halftime, UM was perfect on seven free throws while WSU was 3 of 4. The final totals: Montana, 9 of 9; Washington State, 15 of 19.
Air Force 58, Mississippi Valley State 40: Andrew Henke came off the bench to score 17 points and lead the undefeated Falcons (5-0) past the Delta Devils (0-5). Henke, a 6-6 junior, hit 6 of 8 shots as Air Force shot 57 percent from the floor.