DENVER — With a last-minute good luck charm from Waikiki Beach slow to take effect, Derrick Low and the Washington State men's basketball team recovered from a sluggish first half last night and blitzed upset-minded Winthrop, 71-40, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

A crowd of 19,282 at the Pepsi Center watched Low — a 2004 'Iolani School graduate from Honolulu — score all 11 of his points after halftime, when the score was tied 29-29.

The Cougars, seeded No. 4 in the East Region, improved to 25-8 and will face No. 5 Notre Dame (25-7) at 12:40 p.m. Hawai'i time in tomorrow's second round at the Pepsi Center.

The game is expected to be televised live on KGMB-9 (Oceanic Channel 7).

Just hours before last night's game, Low's father, Ken, landed in Denver with a handful of sand off Waikiki Beach sealed in a Ziploc sandwich bag. He had it delivered to his son, with instructions to run his hands through it.

"It's a little bit of home," Ken Low said. "I thought if he washed his hands with it, he might shoot better."

The plan almost backfired, as Low — a 6-foot-2 senior guard — went 0 for 5 in a scoreless first-half effort. He entered the game as Washington State's leading scorer at 14.1 points per game.

"I thought, 'Man, what kind of sand was that?' " Low said after the game, jokingly. "I think it needed to be more strong."

But he found his touch shortly after halftime, swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key to fuel a 9-0 run the first five minutes out of the gate. A 17-foot jumper from the right wing made it 40-31 with 12:59 remaining, and another 3-pointer from the top of the key 40 seconds later put the Cougars up, 43-33.

At the 9:15 mark, Low drained a fadeaway 3-pointer from the right wing that made it 50-33.

"We told our team at halftime that Derrick Low scores two-thirds of his points in the second half, that's been his pattern," Winthrop coach Randy Peele said. "He's a very good player and I have great respect for him. In terms of the guys that concerned me the most, I mean, in terms of the ultimate compliment ... the best defender in our league, in my opinion, is Mantoris Robinson, and I put Mantoris on him. That tells you something. I think he's an outstanding player."

Joking aside, Low said his first-half shooting woes did not overly concern him.

"I always seem to miss a couple shots early," he said. "Those first few shots, I got on touches off screens, going full speed. But that first one in the second half, I was set and Robbie (Cowgill) flipped me a pass and I had a good look. That helps, to hit that. But I was confident I would get it going eventually."

Low and the Cougars also were boosted by a stepped-up defensive effort that held the Eagles without a field goal during a 10-minute stretch in the second half.

During that span, a 40-33 lead exploded to 67-34.

"Defensively, we focused on what we needed to do and we got a lot of stops," Low said. "We didn't step off the gas — we just tried to keep going."

Washington State coach Tony Bennett said Low "labored a bit in the first half," but got untracked as the offense began to click.

"I thought we wore (the Eagles) down, we started to move the ball a bit better," Bennett said. "Derrick Low hit some big shots."

Low finished with 11 points, three assists, two rebounds and one steal. He and the other starters exited the game with 3:38 left and the score 65-34.

Center Aron Baynes led Washington State with 19 points and eight rebounds, and forwards Kyle Weaver and Cowgill each added 14 points.

Taj McCullough scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Winthrop, which ended its season at 22-12. Chris Gaynor added 15 points.

As for the sand from Waikiki, Low did not throw it away yet.

"I thought it was neat, that was kind of cute," Low said. "I guess it worked ... better late than never."

WINTHROP (22-12)—McCullough 8-17 0-4 17, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Corbin 0-1 1-2 1, Gaynor 5-14 0-0 15, Jenkins 1-9 0-0 2, Burton 0-2 0-0 0, Buechert 1-4 1-2 3, Harris 1-3 0-0 2, Faison 0-1 0-0 0, Valentine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-52 2-8 40.

WASHINGTON ST. (25-8)—Weaver 5-7 4-6 14, Cowgill 6-9 2-2 14, Baynes 9-9 1-3 19, Low 4-10 0-0 11, Rochestie 2-3 0-0 5, Koprivica 0-1 2-2 2, Abercrombie 0-0 0-0 0, Cross 0-2 0-0 0, Harmeling 0-2 0-0 0, Henry 0-1 0-0 0, Forrest 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 29-49 9-13 71.

Halftime—Tied 29-29. 3-Point Goals—Winthrop 6-19 (Gaynor 5-9, McCullough 1-5, Robinson 0-1, Jenkins 0-4), Washington St. 4-13 (Low 3-7, Rochestie 1-2, Cross 0-1, Weaver 0-1, Harmeling 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Winthrop 21 (McCullough 8), Washington St. 40 (Baynes 8). Assists—Winthrop 7 (Gaynor, McCullough 2), Washington St. 20 (Rochestie 10). Total Fouls—Winthrop 13, Washington St. 11. A—19,282.

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