SLIDESHOW: Weber State vs Western State
OGDEN -- They knew it was coming, and their coach didn't let them down.
Trailing 36-31 at the half to Western State, the Weber State Wildcats entered their locker room already knowing what coach Randy Rahe was going to tell them. It was those words that fired up the Wildcats and got them going to an 89-62 win on Tuesday at the Dee Events Center.
"We knew that Coach Rahe was going to tell us that we weren't defending well enough," said point guard Damian Lillard.
"That was it, in so many uncertain words," Rahe said. "We had to get our point across. I thought we were back on our heels and had to get more aggressive."
Lillard scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as the Wildcats (1-3) rallied to the lopsided win. Dan Biber opened the second half with a 3-pointer to give the Division II Mountaineers (2-1) a 39-31 lead, but after that the Wildcats went on a 35-6 run over the next 10 minutes.
It started with a 12-0 run during which Steve Panos scored five of his 14 points, and ended with a 3-pointer from Lillard that gave WSU a 43-39 lead less than three minutes into the half.
"We finally put offense together with defense and we ran away with the game," Lillard said.
The win is the first for WSU, which lost close games this season at home against Utah State, and then on the road against UC Santa Barbara and Seattle University. With a road game on Friday at BYU followed by a home game next week against Utah, a getting a confidence-building win was important.
"We needed one," Rahe said. "Our schedule's been really tough. We've played well, we just haven't put two ends together. Overall I've been pleased with what we've been doing but we just need to put two ends together."
The Wildcats didn't put two halves together on Tuesday either, but a 58-26 route in the second half was more than enough to overcome the first 20 minutes.
Western State took its first lead 6 ¬½ minutes into the game when Alex Hart hit a shot with his toe on the 3-point line to give the Mountaineers a 9-7 advantage. The game stayed tight throughout the first half with the lead changing eight times.
"That wasn't the basketball team we see day in and day out in practice," Panos said. "We got together and said we had to find a way to get it done."
WSU had five turnovers in the second half, compared to 15 in the first half, and held the Mountaineers to 32 percent shooting from the field compared to 48.4 percent in the first half.
Nick Hansen also had 14 points for WSU, and scored 10 points in the second half after leaving the game just before halftime following a hard landing. Lindsey Hughey made his first start for the 'Cats and finished with 10 points.
WSU played without Darrin Mahoney, who is still bothered by a calf strain that hasn't totally healed since he injured it before the season began.
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