Tale of the tape: WSU 65, Buffalo 54

COUGARS

FROM SEATTLE — Not sure if Washington State has played two halves as differently as it did in tonight’s 65-54 win over Buffalo at KeyArena. But when the result is a victory, nobody really cares. We recap the good, the bad and the ugly in our tale of the tape. Read on.

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PLAYER OF THE GAME — A little ironic that one day after coach Ken Bone talked at length about WSU’s need to get the ball to Brock Motum, the senior forward had an off-game and WSU relied on others to pick up the slack. DaVonte Lacy filled the holes well enough by scoring 19 points on 5-7 shooting — all of those from beyond the 3-point arc — to help WSU keep up with the hot-shooting Bulls in the first half. Motum, though, still made a couple of key plays for his team, including a pair of put-back layups following offensive rebounds, and a 3-pointer just prior to that.

PLAY OF THE GAME — Dexter Kernich-Drew hasn’t shot well from outside recently, but his 3-pointer in transition with 4:34 remaining gave the Cougars a 56-50 lead and helped them put the Bulls away.

STAT OF THE GAME — The Bulls made just six of their 29 field-goal attempts in the second half after shooting 56 percent in the first. Also, in a game noted for its ugliness, WSU still only committed seven turnovers. Buffalo handed the ball over 13 times, including nine in the second half.

QUOTABLE — “Coach, that was ugly.” — coach Ken Bone said that’s what Motum said to him as the team walked off the court and to the locker room after the game

NEXT UP — WSU is off for another week before returning to the court on Saturday, Dec. 29 for a game against Idaho State in Kennewick. That’s the Cougars’ final nonconference game before they begin Pac-12 play against Washington on Jan. 5.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com . Twitter: @ChristianCaple