Second-half sensation

DENVER – Through the course of the season, Washington State’s players have heard some impressive halftime speeches from coach Tony Bennett.

There were words of encouragement handed out at Baylor, at UCLA and, the granddaddy of them all, the second game of the season at Boise State.

It was there the Cougars trailed by six in what the players termed a lackadaisical effort. So Bennett delivered his gold standard of motivational speeches, which led to a 60-point second half and an easy win.

So when the Cougars headed to the locker room tied with underdog Winthrop in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Thursday night, Bennett was waiting.

“It wasn’t Boise,” Nik Koprivica said of the challenge the second-year coach laid down, “but it was close.”

And it worked.

The Cougars played what even the hard-to-please Bennett termed “one of our better halves,” holding Winthrop to 11 points, scoring 42 and running away with a 71-40 East Regional win before 19,282 at the Pepsi Center.

“I don’t know if we could have played a better half of defense than we did today,” said WSU reserve forward Caleb Forrest.

The Eagles missed their first eight shots after halftime and made just 2 of their first 19. They finished the half 4 of 24, with their 16.7 percent shooting – WSU’s best defensive half of the year. The Cougars also outrebounded Winthrop 26-6.

All that came after Winthrop had burned WSU’s pack defense in the first half with back screens, cross screens and ball screens. Just about anything the Eagles ran, worked, as they scored on more than 50 percent of their possessions.

“We didn’t really play well at all in the first half,” said Robbie Cowgill, who finished with 14 points, one off his season high. “Offensively, I thought we were all right. But defensively, it was just kind of a lackluster effort, really. Giving up easy baskets (on) their gimmick plays, back screens, cross screens, then giving them second-chance points.

“We call those our losing plays.”

Though the Cougars weren’t losing – a Cowgill dunk off an inbounds play tied the score at 29 with a minute left before intermission – they had allowed 13th-seeded Winthrop to shoot 43 percent, grab five offensive rebounds and build confidence.

Only the offense of Kyle Weaver (12 points) and Aron Baynes (10 on three dunks and two close-in hoops) allowed the Cougars to keep pace with Taj McCullough (15 points) and the 22-12 Eagles.

“I was disappointed with the easy things they got,” Bennett said. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight.”

But there was only one dog fighting in the second half.

Winthrop, which had 12 points in the paint before halftime, took its first four shots from beyond the arc. They all missed.

The fourth-seeded Cougars (25-8) took advantage, scoring the half’s first nine points, including Derrick Low’s first basket, a 3-pointer with 17 minutes left.

“We needed a Derrick or someone to really cut loose offensively,” Bennett said.

Someone became just about everyone. Low finished with 11 points, Weaver with 14. Baynes continued to assert himself, hitting all nine of his shots for a game-high 19 points, most coming off Taylor Rochestie’s season-high 10 assists.

“That was just on the guys,” Baynes said of his highest point total since the Pac-10 season began. “They penetrated and they forced the defense to rotate over. My guy just helped up each time.

“I just had to step into the spot. They’re going to get me the ball in my hands. I just have to catch it and go up.”

“When we get production from our four and five, that helps us,” Bennett said of Cowgill and Baynes combining for 33 points and 14 rebounds. “There was a size advantage with Aron and a size advantage inside. … (Aron) does a pretty good job when he gets deep-post position. That certainly helped us.

“Then Robbie knocked down some shots (and) got a couple offensive rebounds in the second half. … But Aron, whenever he can score for us, we can spread it out, that’s big.”

As polished as the second-half offense was – WSU shot 65.4 percent (59.2 for the game, best since USC), grabbed six offensive rebounds, dished out 13 assists and committed just five turnovers – it was the defense that sealed the deal.

The effort surprised even Bennett.

“We’re not the kind of team that overwhelms people,” Bennett said. “We’re not gonna throw a knockout punch.”

The Cougars had second-half runs of 9-0, 14-0 and 13-0.

“We got frustrated,” Winthrop coach Randy Peele said. “What happened is … when you struggle to score, it shows up on your ability to defend. And it showed up for us tonight, especially in the second half.”

With Cowgill locking down McCullough – he had two points after halftime – and Winthrop leading scorer Michael Jenkins a non-factor because of Rochestie’s defense, the Cougars exploded.

“Defensively, we try to talk about getting gaps,” Bennett said. “For us getting gaps (means) three stops in a row. Whenever we can do that, that’s a gap, then we start another one.

“We just kept trying to challenge them, encourage them, get another one. I thought they really responded. I could feel them getting some confidence.”

Now they will take that confidence into Saturday’s 3:40 (PDT) second-round game against Notre Dame, a 68-50 winner over George Mason in the day’s late game. The Irish are the fifth seed in the East.

“We’ll have to come out, whoever we play, and probably can’t have a first half like that,” Bennett said.

If they do, Bennett is always ready to deliver a halftime pick-me-up.

“I told our guys at halftime, ‘It’s one of two things. You’re either scared or you’re being overconfident.’ And I said, ‘You better figure out which one it is and make a change.’ “

They did.