• WSU 69, Arizona 53
PULLMAN – Quick, somebody break up the offensive juggernaut known as Washington State. The Cougars, one of the lowest-scoring teams in college basketball, backed up an 82-point outburst at UCLA last Saturday with a 43-point second half that carried WSU to a 69-53 triumph over Arizona on Thursday night.
“We’re playing with a lot of passion and intensity,” WSU senior Taylor Rochestie said.
“I liked our level of toughness in the second half,” Cougars coach Tony Bennett said.
The Cougars shot a blistering 68 percent from the field in the final half to outscore the normally explosive Wildcats 43-29. WSU shot just 29 percent in the first half and made nine turnovers, but the Cougars erased most of a 27-16 deficit with a 10-2 run in the final five minutes of the half to close to 29-26.
WSU handled Arizona’s presses and traps much more efficiently in the second half. An early 11-0 run gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, and they never relinquished it in a Pacific-10 Conference victory before 7,957 fans at Friel Court.
“The last five minutes of the first half really hurt us,” Arizona coach Russ Pennell said. “We had a chance to stretch out the lead, and we didn’t do it. They got hot and they hurt us.”
Four Cougars scored in double figures for the second successive game. Rochestie and Klay Thompson recovered from poor performances in the first half to score 17 and 16 points, respectively. Caleb Forrest added 15 points (including career highs of nine free throws made and attempted), and DeAngelo Casto had season highs of 11 points and five assists.
“Caleb and DeAngelo did a great job of handling the high post,” said Bennett, whose bench players outscored their Arizona counterparts 28-2.
Arizona point guard Nic Wise scored 15 points in a dazzling first half, but freshman Marcus Capers held Wise to four points the rest of the way. Wildcats star Jordan Hill piled up 15 points and nine rebounds, but Casto teamed with Aron Baynes to keep Hill under control, and Thompson helped limit Budinger to nine points (one after halftime) on 3-for-11 shooting with five turnovers.
“I was excited to play against him,” said Thompson, who tied a season high with six turnovers. “He’s an NBA player, so it’s always good to challenge yourself.”
Bennett said he was delighted with the defense of freshmen Thompson, Capers and Casto.
“We got such a boost energy-wise from Marcus and DeAngelo,” Bennett said.
“I just had to bring fire and heart,” Casto said.
Capers, despite remaining scoreless since rejoining the starting lineup three games ago, gave Rochestie (who played all 40 minutes again) a welcome break by handling the point and guarding Wise.
“Did Marcus play tonight?” Rochestie deadpanned. “He helped me and he helped the whole team.”
The Cougars, who close out their home schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday against No. 14 Arizona State, improved to 15-13 overall and 7-9 in the conference after recording just their second home win over Arizona (18-10, 8-7) in the past 23 tries.
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