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WSU Men's Basketball

Washington State starts hot out of halftime break, races to comfortable win over Cal

Washington State forward DJ Rodman shoots a 3-pointer during the second half of a Pac-12 game against Cal on Wednesday at Beasley Coliseum.  (WSU Athletics)

PULLMAN – Sparked by its sharpshooting veteran, Washington State caught fire out of the halftime break and quickly turned a close game into a runaway.

WSU led California by one point at intermission, but the Cougars compiled a 12-0 run that spanned the first 4 minutes of the second half. Senior WSU forward DJ Rodman canned three 3-pointers during the spurt, and the Cougs controlled a double-digit advantage the rest of the way, finishing off a 66-51 victory over the Golden Bears on Wednesday night at Beasley Coliseum.

“That first 4 minutes was big for us Just a lot of guys played well,” coach Kyle Smith said.

“They moved the ball pretty well and just took advantage of it. DJ has been shooting the ball really well, and those 3s are big separators. We hit some and that makes things a lot easier.”

The Cougs (8-10, 3-4 Pac-12) dominated for most of the second half, shooting 52% from the floor in the period and limiting Cal (3-14, 2-4) to a 28.6% mark on field-goal attempts. WSU outscored the Bears 33-11 in the first 14 minutes of the second half. The hosts fashioned a game-high 23-point lead with 6:14 on the clock after guard Justin Powell buried the team’s ninth 3-pointer.

WSU didn’t make another basket after that, but Cal managed only two field goals during the Cougars’ cold spell.

Rodman scored in double figures for the fifth consecutive game, logging 14 points on 4 of 5 from 3-point range. He added six rebounds.

“No one’s had more of a green light than that guy,” Smith said of Rodman. “I yell at him to shoot.”

The team’s lone senior, Rodman is in the midst of a career-best stretch. Over the past five games, he has scored 76 points, hit 16 of 29 from beyond the arc and is averaging 6.3 rebounds.

“Now that I’ve had five in a row like this, that’s kind of my baseline now,” Rodman said. “I’ve known that I’ve always had this in me, but I’ve never shown it and never had that confidence in myself like I do now. I think it’s more of a not-really-caring attitude, not caring if I miss a shot.”

WSU post Mouhamed Gueye tallied 11 of his 14 points before halftime. He posted one of the night’s top highlights midway through the first half, blowing past a defender at the perimeter and throwing down a poster dunk. Gueye drew a foul and sank the free throw.

Guard Justin Powell contributed 12 points as the Cougars shot 46% from the field and 9 of 21 (42.9%) from deep – 6 of 11 on 3s in the second half. True freshman guard Kymany Houinsou totaled nine points, five rebounds and two assists. He started in place of TJ Bamba, who missed the game with a hand injury.

“His hand’s been bothering him and it’s just chronic pain,” Smith said. “Maybe rest will help it. … I don’t think it’s something (that will keep Bamba out of the lineup long term). It’s probably something he’s just gonna have to manage.”

Bamba is a team captain, the Cougs’ leading scorer (15.1 points per game) and their best perimeter defender. But WSU overcame his absence, putting together a balanced, efficient scoring output and strong 3-point defense against an opponent that’d been lighting it up from distance lately.

The Pac-12’s top 3-point shooting team, the Cougs went 54 of 132 (40.9%) from downtown over their past five games. Cal also came into the game on a hot streak from long range. The Bears shot 23 of 35 from 3-point land over their past two games, wins against Colorado and Stanford, but went 5 of 20 from 3 – 0 of 11 in the second half – against the Cougars.

Guard Marsalis Roberson (11 points) was Cal’s only double-figure scorer.

“Defensively, just a great effort on our part, especially against a team that had 90 (points) against Stanford,” Smith said. “In the second half, (we were) just stingy. I think it gets harder offensively for (Cal) when we make a couple of 3s. That puts a little more pressure on them.

“Great effort for our team coming off a big win, obviously, in our last game,” Smith added. “You never know how your team is going to come out.”

WSU pulled off one of its best regular-season wins of all time Saturday, a 74-61 victory against Pac-12 favorite Arizona on Saturday that marked the Cougars’ first road win in program history over a top-five team.

“You just gotta stay humble,” Powell said. “You have ups and downs during a season. Obviously, we knew we were coming off a big win, but we had to figure out how we were going to respond to Cal. … We had to lock in. We can’t overlook anybody.”

Against the conference’s bottom team, WSU got off to a somewhat disjointed start but settled in as the half progressed and built a seven-point lead with 1:54 until the break. Cal hit back-to-back 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater, to trim the deficit to 31-30 before WSU’s breakaway surge to open the second half.

“We didn’t come out as focused as we wanted to,” Powell said. “But in the second half, we came out with a lot of purpose.”

The Cougs claimed their sixth consecutive win over Cal. WSU hosts Stanford at 5 p.m. Saturday.