Malachi Flynn’s 27 lead WSU past UVU

PULLMAN – Malachi Flynn did not stop being one of the state’s most dangerous and efficient scorers when he elevated from high school to college, a point he drove home over and over while leading Washington State to a 83-76 win over a surging Utah Valley team on Wednesday night.

Flynn grew up in a few ways on Wednesday night, none bigger than when he responded to a critical error by making a badly needed play on defense to secure a rebound and force the Wolverines to send the Cougars to the line.

The freshman led all scorers with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting, using an array of stutter-steps and hesitation dribbles to penetrate the UVU defense early in the game, and finishing by hitting 3-pointers from well behind the line.

“Now he’s starting to figure out the freedom that’s in this system,” WSU head coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s controlled freedom but he understands where to get his points.”

On the heels of his 18 points on seven shots in WSU’s loss to San Jose State on Sunday, the freshman from Tacoma has become a de facto team leader. Because of his steady play with the ball in his hands and mature defense, he has emerged as perhaps the team’s most important player and without question its most dangerous scorer.

UVU’s (4-2) only previous loss this season came at Gonzaga in the opener. The Wolverines were coming off a road win at BYU in which they scored 114 points and made 18 3-pointers. Brandon Randolph, a Xavier transfer and former top recruit, had 14 assists in the win.

WSU (4-3) led comfortably for much of the second half but Utah Valley, which is one of the country’s best 3-point shooting teams, made six of its first 12 shots from behind the arc in the second half, cutting WSU’s lead to six points with 5:25 to play.

Derrien King, who finished with 13 points, was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer and made all three free throws. Flynn scored layups and a contested jumper on subsequent possessions.

“It was fascinating watching him take over the game, as young as he is,” WSU’s Charles Callison said.

But even freshmen have those moments. With a minute left in the game, Randolph stole the ball from Flynn as the point guard brought the ball up the court and quickly dunked to cut WSU’s lead to 77-76. Josh Hawkinson gave the Cougars some air with a hook shot on the ensuing possession.

The Wolverines missed a pair of 3-pointers on their next possession, and Flynn secured the second rebound with 25.7 seconds left, forcing UVU to foul and send WSU’s shooters to the line. Callison hit a pair of free throws, Hawkinson made two more after another defensive stop and the Cougars held on for the win.

The Cougars led 49-31 at halftime thanks to the sweet shooting of Flynn and Robert Franks, who each neared their respective career highs in points scored in the first 20 minutes.

“We really came with energy and just the mindset of not to let them shoot,” Callison said. “In the second half we let off the pedal and let them get going a little bit and get back into the game.”

Flynn scored 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, which, when coupled with his performance in the team’s loss to SJSU, gave him 33 points on 11-of-13 shooting over his last three halves of basketball.

Franks scored all nine of his points in the first half, on 4-of-6 shooting. His career high is 11.

The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field and held UVU to 37 percent, but they turned the ball over 15 times to UVU’s 10. WSU won the battle on the boards 44-39.