After three-straight losses, the Cougars broke out of their funk in a big way with a 78-60 win over the Arizona Wildcats Saturday night.

After tip-off, the Cougars came out sluggish allowing the Wildcats to jump out to a 12-4 lead. However, the Cougars quickly rebounded and controlled the tempo of the remainder of the half.

After the score was tied up at 24, the Cougars closed the half on an 8-2 run to go into the break with a 32-26 advantage.

The Cougars shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half, but they were able to build their lead and slow Arizona down with their defensive play. WSU limited the Wildcats to only 33.3 percent (9-27) shooting in the first half.

“We talked quite a bit about defense the past couple days because there have been games recently where we haven’t played up to the standards we like to play,” WSU Head Coach Ken Bone said.

Perhaps the story of the game was the play of freshman forward Brock Motum. The Australian native came into the game early because senior guard Nikola Koprivica got into foul trouble and redshirt sophomore guard Abe Lodwick was ill. Motum played a career-high 17 minutes and finished with 10 points off 4-6 shooting.

“The whole team was just molded and gelled together,” sophomore center DeAngelo Casto said. “As soon as we walked into the gym, we were energized and ready to go. I think that was proven by the guys coming off the bench, like Brock and X (Xavier Thames) contributing the way they did.” In the second half, WSU came out strong and saw its lead grow to double figures early on.

The team finished shooting 51 percent from the floor but shot nearly 67 percent in the second half off 14-21 shooting. Casto led the team in scoring with a career-high 19 points and also added nine rebounds and three blocks.

“I prepared a lot harder this week that (sic) I have in the past,” Casto said. “The coaches have been pushing me really hard.” Sophomore guard Klay Thompson, who is averaging 21.2 points per game, finished with 14 points after shooting 5-11 from the floor.

Thompson has struggled immensely from the floor in his last three games but showed some touch on Saturday. Thompson only attempted three 3-pointers, and Bone said the small forward needs to fire away more deep shots.

“He needs to shoot more 3s,” Bone said. “He played a decent game, but I would always like to see him shooting more 3s.” The Cougars are now 15-8 overall and 5-6 in Pac-10 play, sitting seventh in the conference standings. Next up for WSU will be a showdown with the last place Stanford Cardinal (4-7, 10-13 overall) in Palo Alto on Thursday night.