Cougars solve Falcons

A shooter who isn’t going well will try just about anything to bust out. Washington State’s Derrick Low is no different. Only his solution might have been.

It seems neither Low nor teammate Daven Harmeling have shot well in the Spokane Arena, so they decided to try an innovative way out of their slumps.

“Me and Daven were in our room the other night … and he said, ‘OK, I think we should pray to the Spokane Arena gods to have mercy on us when we shoot it,’ ” said Low after hitting six consecutive second-half 3-pointers, scoring 19 points and leading the ninth-ranked Cougars to a come-from-behind 71-62 victory over Air Force on Sunday.

“As a shooter you just have to keep shooting,” Low added, “and take my shot whenever I have it. Eventually, it started to fall, and I’m so happy.”

The win, WSU’s sixth this season without a defeat, ensured the title of the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge before 3,585 at the Spokane Arena.

The University of Montana finished second, thanks to its 69-62 win over Mississippi Valley State College in the day’s opener.

But the Falcons might have had a piece of the first-place hardware if it hadn’t been for another Cougar second-half comeback – a comeback keyed by Low’s shooting and a defense that finally figured out Air Force’s Princeton-style back-cut offense.

“Low was absolutely the difference,” said Air Force guard Tim Anderson, who led the Falcons with 15 points. “We tried to make some adjustments. Some of them worked at times, but it’s hard to hold down great shooters the whole game.”

The Falcons (5-2, both losses coming in the tournament) held down all the Cougars in the first half, leading 30-26 at the break. Air Force’s matchup zone caused problems – WSU shot 44 percent – and its patient offense led to accurate shooting. The Falcons hit half their shots from both inside (4 of 8) and outside the arc (6 of 12).

“A team you can’t prepare for in the third day in a tournament, that runs that very difficult offense, is a challenge,” WSU coach Tony Bennett explained. “And when they shoot the ball well, when they are making 3s, they become extremely difficult.”

The Cougars made some subtle adjustments on both ends at half, and slowly climbed back to tie it at 37 on Low’s second 3-pointer of the second half. Freshman Evan Washington, who finished with a career-high 14 points, hit a 3 a minute later for the Falcons’ final lead, and then the Cougar defense tightened up.

“You’ve got to get stops and bang some shots,” Bennett said. “I don’t know which one came first … but we were exchanging baskets, so I’m always going to tip my hat to the defense and say that’s where it started.”

“Defensively we picked it up and there were less backdoor cuts,” Rochestie said. “We really started understanding what they were doing.”

Over the next 8 minutes, Air Force was held to three free throws, Low hit four more 3-pointers and the Cougars scored on all but three possessions, building a 57-43 lead with 6 minutes left.

“We can’t let people go on runs like that against us,” Air Force’s Andrew Henke said. “We can’t allow ourselves to not score for eight straight possessions and then let them come down and hit big shots.”

The closest the Falcons got after the streak was six as WSU converted 10 of 14 free throws in the final 1:12.

Weaver, who had to sit a minute after picking up a foul while being hit in his Adam’s apple with 2:22 remaining, finished with 15 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, though he was unable to talk afterward.

Rochestie, the only Cougar to hit a 3-pointer in the opening half, finished with 22 points, a WSU high and tying his career high set while playing for Tulane. He was also 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and added five assists, giving him 16 in the three-day tournament.

Montana 69, Mississippi Valley State 62: A day after scoring 26 points in a loss to WSU, the Delta Devils (0-7) gave the Grizzlies (5-2) all they could handle for 27 minutes. Ceylon Elgin-Taylor’s jumper for UM tied it at 42 with 13:06 left before Andrew Strait’s two free throws 30 seconds later put Montana ahead for good.

Stanford Speech, who scored six points in the Devils’ first two tournament games, had a game-high 23 while Carl Lucas added 21. Matt Martin paced the balanced Montana attack with 16.

Washington St. 71, Air Force 62

Percentages: FG .413. FT .938. 3-Point Goals: 9-23, .391 (Holland 1-3, Maren 3-5, Anderson 1-6, Washington 2-2, Henke 2-7 ) Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 2 (Johnson, Maren). Turnovers: 11 (Holland, Johnson 2, Maren 2, Anderson, Washington 3, Kenzik, Team) Steals: 6 (Holland, Johnson, Maren 2, Anderson, Washington). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .489, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 9-18, .500. (Low 6-8, Rochestie 3-6, Weaver 0-2, Koprivica 0-1, Harmeling 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cowgill 3). Turnovers: 12 (Baynes 2, Low 3, Rochestie 2, Weaver 3, Koprivica, Harmeling). Steals: 4 (Low 2, Rochestie, Koprivica). Technical Fouls: None. Halftime– Air Force 30, Washington State 26. A–3,585.