For third time in as many games, Washington State overcomes halftime deficit to beat Oregon State 59-55

Three games into the season, Washington State still doesn’t know what it’s like to lead at halftime.

The Cougars also don’t know what it’s like to lose.

In 2019-20, Kyle Smith’s team went 3-11 in games in which the Cougars trailed at halftime, but WSU is 3-0 in such games this year after overcoming a shaky first half to beat Oregon State 59-55 in its Pac-12 opener at Beasley Coliseum.

“Really excited about the way our team competed tonight,” Smith said. “That’s three in a row where we’ve just been in tough, tight games and just kind of found a way to win. Our defense is our calling card right now. We’re still getting comfortable with each other.

“… We knew Oregon State was going to be physical, we knew they were good defensively. Just different personnel than they had last year. They’re big, they’re long and really challenged us and we were just fortunate to get that game done.”

WSU (3-0, 1-0) is scheduled to play Colorado (2-0, 0-0) on Saturday in Boulder, but the Buffaloes recently suspended operations because of COVID-19 issues and had to cancel their Pac-12 opener with Arizona.

The foremost concern for WSU entering Smith’s second season was how the Cougars would replace CJ Elleby and the 18.4 points per game supplied by the newest Portland Trail Blazer.

By committee, it turns out.

For the second time in three games, Isaac Bonton was WSU’s leading scorer, with 15 points to go with seven assists and four rebounds. The senior guard made the decisive free throw to restore a two-possession lead for the Cougars with less than 10 seconds left.

One game after Noah Williams rescued the Cougars with a scoring binge in the second half, it was another sophomore who emerged after halftime against the Beavers.

DJ Rodman, who’d yet to reach double digits in his college career, had 13 points – all coming after halftime – and made three crucial 3-pointers to rescue WSU after it trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half.

“I think it was just confidence in me being me and kind of amping myself up,” Rodman said. “Coach Smith came to me at halftime and said, ‘We need you, we need you.’ I felt like I needed to come through for the team.”

Rodman canned a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the top of the arc to tie the game at 40 with 10:22 left. When the Beavers pulled ahead 46-42, the forward caught another pass from Bonton from the top left of the arc and let it fly to make it a one-point game.

The Cougars were leading 48-46 when Efe Abogidi came up with a steal and pushed the ball ahead to Bonton, who delivered to a driving Rodman for the layup. Just a few plays later, the sophomore forward and the son of former NBA star Dennis Rodman connected on his third 3-pointer of the night to make it a 53-46 Cougars lead.

In his 23 minutes off the bench, Rodman finished 5 of 7 from the field, 3 of 4 from the 3-point line and chipped in five rebounds.

Rodman and Bonton were two of four players to finish in double digits for the Cougars. Jaz Kunc was productive early and finished with 12 points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Williams registered another 12 points while grabbing six rebounds.

The Cougars trailed 26-23 at halftime and saw just one shot fall in the final 9:53 of the first half. They had scoring droughts of 2:12 and 2:31 in the first half and their biggest, a 7-minute, 10-second stretch that saw the Cougars go the final 4:29 of the first half and the first 2:50 of the second without a bucket.

Fortunately, they ran into an OSU team that wasn’t much more efficient on the offensive end of the court. The Beavers were 21 of 59 from the field, 7 of 25 from beyond the arc and 6 of 12 from the free throw line. They committed 17 turnovers to WSU’s 15.

“Our defense has been amazing, it’s been very, very good these games,” Rodman said. “We’ve held them to I don’t know how many points, but around 50, 60 points and I think that’s the most confidence we can have is us being a very defensive-minded team and the offense will come.”

For the third game, the Cougars got key defensive contributions from their freshman center, Abogidi, who blocked three shots and pinned a layup to the backboard inside the final three minutes with WSU clinging to a three-point lead. Abogidi scored five points with seven rebounds and two steals.