Washington State & Baynes Cruise in
NCAA Tourney 1st Round
www.wsucougars.com
22 Mar 2008
DENVER, Colorado (AP) - Tony Bennett has one of those little inspirational mottos on his desk that reads, "There's nothing less important than the score at halftime."
"This was one of those cases," the Washington State coach declared after watching his Cougars register a 71-40 victory over Winthrop on Thursday night.
The fourth-seeded Cougars broke away from a halftime tie to beat the Eagles in the East Regional behind 19 points and eight rebounds from Aron Baynes.
Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill each had 14 and Derrick Low scored 11 for Washington State (25-8), which will play the Notre Dame-George Mason winner in the second round on Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
The Cougars, 51-16 under Bennett, broke open a 29-29 halftime tie with a 23-4 run to cruise to their second straight opening-round win in the NCAA tournament.
"I told our guys at halftime, 'It's one of two things, you're either scared or you're being overconfident. And I said, 'You'd better figure out which one it is and make a change,"' Bennett recounted.
Whether it was nerves or bluster, it was gone by the time the Cougars came out of the locker room and shot a blistering 65 percent in the second half while holding the Eagles to 16 percent (4-for-24).
After making four of eight from beyond the arc in the first half, the Eagles (22-12) stayed away from Baynes and Cowgill down low and missed their first seven shots, four of them from three-point range.
"The shots we were taking were good looks," Taj McCullough said. "But it was like a lid was on the basket and they were bouncing out."
And that anguish seeped into every aspect of their game. Full Story
