For Cougars, there is always room for seconds.

In this case, Thursday’s second half, where WSU took control of the game and walked off Friel Court with a 69-53 victory in front of 7,957 fans.

After a first half where WSU shot only 28.6 percent and allowed the Wildcats to shoot 47.6 percent, the Cougars came out hot and shot 68 percent after the break.

After a Zane Johnson 3-pointer at the 19:10 mark of the second half, Arizona would not score again until a Jordan Hill freethrow at the 13:17 mark. That stretch allowed WSU to climb back and take control of the game.

Arizona’s Nic Wise dominated the first half, scoring 15 points before the intermission. But WSU keyed in on Wise and allowed freshman Marcus Capers to cover him. Wise only scored four more points the rest of the game but still led Wildcat scorers with 19 points.

“I thought we played a good second half,” Head Coach Tony Bennett said. “Wise had 15 at the half, and I thought Marcus really extended his defense. We challenged him all week to pick up and get after the ball and make them work.” The first half ended with a deep 3-pointer from Klay Thompson, giving the Cougars some momentum heading into the locker room. Thompson’s three seemed to change the game for the freshman after a first half in which he committed five turnovers and spent some time on the bench.

Thompson – who tied the freshman season record, at 62, with his four 3-pointers in the game – finished with 16 points in 34 minutes of play. Taylor Rochestie led WSU with 17 points and played the entire game.

Caleb Forrest chipped in 15 points – including a perfect nine-for-nine from the free-throw line. Freshman DeAngelo Casto scored a career-high 11 points.

Casto gave WSU a spark on the defensive end in the second half with his play against Arizona’s Jordan Hill, who finished with 15 points.

“I just had to bring fire and heart,” Casto said. “He’s probably more athletic and has a little more experience and a couple more moves, but if I just stay at it, like coach said, you’ll stay in there and hang with him.” Bennett was equally impressed with his play.

“We tried to make it hard on him,” Bennett said. “DeAngelo did a great job. Our guys doubled him when he got it, and then we released the double.

“(Hill is) like a sleeping giant. When he gets going, he’s so hard to handle.” Arizona used its full-court press to frustrate the Cougars in the first half. WSU had nine turnovers in that first half, and 14 for the game.

But WSU was ready for the press and came prepared to counter.

“Our coaches watched a lot of film, and they saw the spots where we didn’t need to catch the ball because (Arizona) would trap,” Forrest said. “(Coach) put together a new press-break where we have outlets to different guys so they can’t take away everybody if they trap people.

“We worked at that all week, and coach really thought we had a good plan going into this game and it turned out that it definitely was a good plan.” The win moves WSU to 15-13 overall and 7-9 in the Pac-10. With four postseason tournaments available, the next two games – Saturday against Arizona State and March 7 against Washington – are very important.

Bennett, however, will put this win behind him and focus on the next task.

“We just have to be as ready as possible for a heck of an Arizona State team,” he said.