DENVER — After so many years serving as the Pac-10's doormat, the Washington State Cougars enjoyed being the big, bad bully for a change.

Iolani School product Derrick Low scored all 11 of his points in the second half as the fourth-seeded Cougars broke away from a halftime tie to whip Winthrop 71-40 today in the East Regional.

Aron Baynes had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars, who found themselves tied at 29 at halftime.

Low, a 2004 'Iolani School graduate from Honolulu, missed all five of his shot attempts, including a 15-foot fadaway a few seconds before halftime.

Low, who entered the game as the Cougars' leading scorer (14.1 points per game), was 0-for-3 from 3-point range, had one shot blocked, an assist, grabbed one defensive rebound and made a steal in 17 minutes of action.

But he hit 3 of 4 of his 3-pointers in the second half.

Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill each had 14 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, who are 51-16 under Tony Bennett, used a 23-4 run in the second half to cruise to their second straight opening-round win in the NCAA tournament.

After making 4 of 8 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.

Taj McCullough, who led Winthrop with 17 points, ended the drought with a breakaway dunk at 13:19 — his only basket after halftime — and Michael Jenkins, the Eagles' leading scorer, made his first and only bucket at 12:43 to pull Winthrop to 40-33.

The Cougars responded with a 25-1 run to make it 65-34 and erase all doubt about another shocker like the one Winthrop pulled off last year in upsetting Notre Dame in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in Spokane, Wash.

The Eagles surely were dreaming of another first-round stunner when they went into the locker room tied despite Jenkins, who leads the team with a 14.3-point average, having missed most of the first half in foul trouble. Jenkins went out with two fouls with 12:19 left before the half.

Making up for Jenkins' absence was McCullough and Chris Gaynor, who sank a trio of 3-pointers, including an off-balance shot that popped the net at the buzzer. Gaynor finished with 15 points, all on 3s, including one in the waning seconds that allowed the Eagles to avoid a single-digit second half.

As it was, the Eagles were outscored 42-11 after halftime.

Baynes, who packs 270 pounds on his 6-foot-10 frame, made all nine of his shots, three of them rim-rattling dunks in the first half.

The game marked the end of a difficult year for the Eagles and first-year coach Randy Peele, who had to deal with the death of backup point guard De'Andre Adams a month after replacing his former boss, Gregg Marshall, who left for Wichita State.

Adams is still inspiring his teammates 10 months after his death in an auto accident last May.

Patches with his number are stitched onto the Eagles' jerseys. They play one of his favorite songs before games. And his picture is right there on a banner at Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill, S.C., the energetic backup point guard whose wild on-court celebration was the signature moment of the Eagles' upset of Notre Dame in last year's NCAA tournament.

Peele said he sensed the same confidence walking into the Pepsi Center that the Eagles had in Spokane, Wash., last year.

And they showed that swagger Thursday — at least in the first half, they did.

Washington State was picked to finish last in the Pac-10 when Bennett took over the program from his father last year, but the Cougars snapped a 10-year string of losing records when they won 26 times and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they lost a dynamite double-overtime game to Vanderbilt.

This year, expectations were much higher and they posted the school's first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1940-42.