Sunday afternoon was not the first time WSU heated up in the second half.

After struggling in the first half against a tough Air Force game that constantly wore the Cougars’ guards down, WSU came out on fire in the second half en route to a hard-fought 71-62 victory over the Falcons in the last game of the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge weekend tournament.

Derrick Low, who sat on the bench for the last 13:25 of the first half due to two early fouls, scored all of his 19 points in the second half. Low hit six 3-pointers, which all came at vital times in the last half. “He’s a shooter,” head coach Tony Bennett said of Low. “He’s going to make some shots.” Low and Rochestie – who finished with a team-high 22 points – each hit clutch 3-pointers in the second half. “I expect that from a fourth-year junior and a senior here,” Bennett said. “There’s some experience there and they have to do that for us to be successful, and I liked what I saw and I have great confidence in them.” The Cougars (6-0) took a 41-40 lead on a Robbie Cowgill free throw at the 12:02 mark.

After getting Cowgill’s go-ahead free-throw, the Cougars went on a 10-0 run and never looked back.

Air Force went into halftime with a 30-26 lead after shooting 50 percent from behind the arc. WSU only made two 3-pointers, and struggled to hold the Falcons on defense.

Falcons’ center Keith Maren caught WSU off guard while hitting three of five from 3-point land. But Bennett made an adjustment of sitting center Aron Baynes and rotating Cowgill and Daven Harmeling to guard Maren. After scoring 11 points in the first half, Maren had only two points the rest of the way.

“I thought that mobility helped us defensively,” Bennett said regarding switching Cowgill and Harmeling to guard Maren. “Aron was giving us some stuff obviously down low and a little bit on the glass, but I just thought we got to a place where [Cowgill and Harmeling] were playing well and obviously I’m going to ride them and I liked their mobility.

Low started the second half and immediately caught fire, hitting six three-pointers in a row. Low never missed from behind the arc in the second half.

WSU 66-Montana 55 A balanced offense and a strong second half helped WSU put away the Montana Grizzlies on Friday night in the first game of the three-day round-robin tournament.

Rochestie led the way with 17 points and six assists. Baynes was one rebound away from a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Low finished with 14 points and fellow senior Kyle Weaver added 12 more.

Weaver came alive in the second half after heading to the locker room at halftime with only one point to his name.

“It just wouldn’t fall for me the first half,” Weaver said. “I had a couple looks and I missed a jumper or two, missed an easy one early. Like I said, it wasn’t falling and second half I got it going and I tried to attack a little bit more. I got some good looks, got some good drives and I think we started to flow a little bit offensively second half.” For the third game in a row, four WSU players scored in double figures. The luxury of having multiple scoring options on the court provides a tough attack for the Cougars’ opponents.

“I think that’s very important,” Bennett said. “There will be nights when guys catch fire and obviously we’ll look to them, but to have some balance is good.” Montana kept the game close by making eight 3-pointers to the Cougars’ three. Cameron Rundles finished with 13 points and Andrew Strait had 10 points – all in the first half.

Montana head coach Wayne Tinkle was satisfied with his team’s overall performance. Montana has played two top-15 teams (WSU and Gonzaga) this month.

“I’m really proud of our guys for hanging in there,” Tinkle said. “Second half, [WSU] just came out and played very physical.” WSU 71-MVSU 26 After Baynes won the opening tip-off, it seemed the game was already on its way to becoming a blowout.

The Cougars put on a showcase of their usual defensive dominance Saturday in the second game of the tournament against the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in a 71-26 rout.

After heading to the locker room at halftime ahead 34-17, WSU opened the second half on a 13-0 run. WSU allowed only nine points in the entire second half. The 26 total points allowed were the fewest since WSU held Idaho to 23 in 1948.

Junior Caleb Forrest came off the bench to finish with 13 points leading the team along with senior Kyle Weaver’s 13 points. Freshman Stephen Sauls added 12 points.

Baynes had a team high nine rebounds and sophomore Nikola Koprivica added seven.

Bennett was able to play some of the reserves for an extended period because of the blowout. Against Montana the previous day, Bennett only played his top seven players.

“We got to get the guys who played longer minutes yesterday a lot of rest,” Bennett said, “and then look at some different rotations and play our younger kids or inexperienced kids.” WSU got to the free throw line 30 times, converting 24 times. MVSU shot nine free throws, only making two for the entire game. Weaver attributed the large margin to attacking the rim more often on offense.

For the game, WSU shot 47.8 percent and held the Delta Devils to 27.9 percent.

Freshman Stephen Sauls played 22 minutes, the most of his young career. He scored all his points in the last five minutes.

“He competes hard,” Bennett said regarding Sauls. “[He’s] a good young man and really is learning the system. There’s some bumps in the road in terms of getting used to it, but he’s been solid and really challenges these guys and has been very accepting of his role.”