Cougars buckle down

PULLMAN – After an unusually short media session, a reporter shrugged to Kyle Weaver that there wasn’t much to ask after a choppy, ragged 69-50 win over Cal State Northridge.

“Sorry, one of those games,” Weaver said in assent.

That it was. After a weeklong break for finals, the Cougars returned to Friel Court and a mostly quiet crowd of 1,686 to play the Matadors (6-5) to a first-half deadlock at 28, in what was surely one of the Cougars’ lesser 20-minute stretches this season.

“We weren’t on top of our game,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said. “The first half, I thought, ‘This is going to be hard. This might go down to the wire.’ “

But Washington State, clearly the more talented team on the floor, took over in the second half thanks to improved defense and ball handling, which allowed it to wear down Cal State Northridge and extend the lead late.

At one point midway through the second half, the Cougars held the Matadors without a field goal for more than 6 minutes, turning a 41-37 advantage into a 50-41 lead in the process.

The visitors, who had just three players in the scoring column until the final minute of the game, didn’t have the firepower to respond.

“We just came out and laid a big, fat egg,” Matadors coach Bobby Braswell said of the second half. “We had guys that just let down, let their guard down.”

It also didn’t hurt that WSU played far better in the second half, turning the ball over just four times against Cal State Northridge’s pressuring defense.

With the win, the Cougars moved to 10-1, their best start since 1992 and one that matches the sixth best in school history. Only one more non-conference game – Thursday night’s game against San Diego State at Seattle’s KeyArena – remains before the start of Pac-10 play. The Cougars won’t play another true home game until Jan. 4 against Arizona State.

Saturday, though, WSU didn’t do much to show that it was playing in friendly confines.

Two of its starters in the frontcourt, Robbie Cowgill and Aron Baynes, ended up playing just 14 minutes apiece as they struggled with the quickness of Cal State Northridge.

Fortunately for the Cougars, they found more success with a smaller lineup, as guard Derrick Low scored a team-high 17 points, forward Ivory Clark had 14 off the bench, and Weaver had 12 before fouling out in the closing moments.

“We couldn’t really get into a flow. It was just five guys out there,” Weaver said. “To come out that slow and still be tied up at halftime was good for us.”

One bright spot for the Cougars came at the free-throw line, where they sank 21 of 24 attempts to help bury the Matadors late.

Referees, apparently calling a tighter game in the second half, whistled the two teams for 11 fouls in just more than 5 minutes coming out of halftime. As a result, WSU often ended up going to the stripe.

Their success there, coupled with the improved defense, was more than enough to pocket a 10th win and move one step closer to conference play.

“We’re not that dominant of a team where we can throw a knockout punch in the first 5 minutes, the first 10 minutes. We’ve just got to be chipping away,” Bennett said. “I knew that we were going to have to outlast them and we did.”

WSU 69, Cal State Northridge 50

Percentages: FG .362, FT .684. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Chitwood 2-5, Tyson 1-2, Haynes 0-1, Colston 0-1, Jones 0-1, Hill 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 5 (Chitwood 2). Turnovers: 23 (Heard 8). Steals: 6 (Haynes, Colston 2). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .440, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 4-15, .267 (Hopson 1-2, Koprivica 1-2, Harmeling 1-4, Low 1-5, Cowgill 0-1, Weaver 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 4 (Cowgill, Baynes, Weaver, Clark). Turnovers: 13 (Rochestie 3). Steals: 9 (Low 3). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Washington State 28, Cal State Northridge 28. A–NA.