The feel-good, surprise team of the Pac-10 scrapped to its 11th victory Thursday night at KeyArena in the second annual AT&T Cougar Hardwood Classic presented by Comcast and Northwest Dodge Dealers.
With junior guard Kyle Weaver leading the way with all 16 of his points in the second half, Washington State came from behind to beat San Diego State 64-54 before 5,872 spectators.
The victory improved the Cougars to 11-1 and they now have as many triumphs as they did all of last season, and it’s not even Christmas yet.
“We knew we were going to be something special this year, maybe not this special,” said junior forward Robbie Cowgill, who led the Cougars with 17 points. “We’re probably a little bit surprised at 11-1, but it feels great.”
Thursday, though, the Cougars played the first half as if they couldn’t wait to get home for Christmas. At halftime, however, they decided they wouldn’t go gentle into the night and went from listless to lethal.
In this tale of two halves, San Diego State led 33-23 at intermission as Cougars had their most unproductive half of the season.
WSU shot only 28.6 percent in the opening half, including a dreadful 1 for 12 from beyond the three-point arc. Things changed after the break and the Cougars shot 55 percent (16 for 29) in the second half and made 3 of 7 three-pointers.
No one turned things around more than Weaver.
“I just got it going,” he said. “The defense started clicking for us as a team. That created problems for them.”
Weaver sparked the defense by volunteering to guard Aztecs star Brandon Heath, who had 13 points at halftime. Heath was held to seven points in the second half.
As a team, SDSU shot only 35 percent in the second half (6 for 17).
The Cougars outscored the Aztecs 27-4 in the first 12:44 of the second half. WSU tied the game 37-37 with 13:17 left on a floater by Derrick Low, then went ahead for good on a layup by Weaver.
“We made them make tough shots,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said of the tightened second-half defense.
“We just had some more scrap and we’re not even close to good enough that if we don’t play with our hair on fire (we lose),” Bennett added.
Nikola Koprivica, a true freshman guard from Serbia who had impressed the Cougars coaching staff in the European Under-18 Championships, got his first start of the season. He scored the team’s first five points and finished with 11.
Koprivica took the place of 6-foot-10 Australian center Aron Baynes in the starting lineup.
San Diego State, the defending Mountain West Conference champion, dropped to 10-3.
San Diego State coach Steve Fisher was denied his 300th career victory as a college head coach. Seattle still has to remain one of his favorite venues because Fisher’s 1989 Michigan team won the NCAA title in the Kingdome.
The triumph Thursday night will go down as WSU’s third “quality” victory so far this season, joining triumphs over Gonzaga and Alabama-Birmingham.
This was the second year of a Cougars game at KeyArena. Last year, WSU beat Utah 69-42 before 5,496 spectators.
One convenience of playing the game Thursday night in Seattle is that players have quick access to the airport for trips home for Christmas.
The Cougars open Pac-10 play at No. 1 UCLA on Thursday.
The victory Thursday boosts hopes that WSU could wind up playing in the postseason for the first time since the NIT Tournament in 1996.
The Cougars should be back next year in Seattle for the third game in this on going series at the KeyArena.
