Washington State holds on for 56-51 rivalry win over Washington

PULLMAN – It was a grinder of a game, and it was tense until the end. Washington State coach Kyle Smith expected nothing less.

“It’s that time of the year – it’s a rivalry game,” he said.

The Cougs gutted out an ugly win in a hard-fought Apple Cup matchup, turning back the visiting Washington Huskies 56-51 on Saturday night in front of a fiery, season-high home crowd of 5,647 at Beasley Coliseum.

WSU (11-15, 6-9 Pac-12) saw most of a 10-point lead slip away during a late scoring drought. The Huskies (13-13, 5-10) made things interesting, cutting the deficit to two points with 1:26 to go, but the Cougars strung a few stops together and knocked down enough free throws to survive.

“Both teams really competed hard,” Smith said. “They were persistent. They didn’t go away at all.”

Guard Jabe Mullins, a Washington native, broke out of a long shooting funk – 4 of 25 from deep across the past eight games – and buried two quick 3-pointers during a crucial stretch to put WSU up 47-37 with 8 minutes remaining.

The Cougars mustered two points over the next 7 minutes, shooting 0 of 7 from the field in that stretch, and UW chipped away.

“We weren’t able to get settled in and attack as much as we’d like,” Smith said.

“We were a little antsy tonight, a little nervous.”

WSU’s defense kept the Huskies at bay, and Cougar post Mouhamed Gueye sealed the result with 42 seconds on the clock, scoring on a put-back – WSU’s only field goal over the final 8 minutes.

The Cougars’ team captains, Gueye and guard TJ Bamba, carried the load against their archrivals.

“It always feels great to have a win, especially when you’re playing U-Dub,” Gueye said.

Gueye totaled 17 points and 15 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. The Cougars controlled the glass, outrebounding Washington 47-35 overall and 17-9 offensively. Coug forward DJ Rodman added nine rebounds (seven offensive).

“It was hard to get a bucket out there, but we were just gritty enough on the glass, getting ourselves second and third opportunities, and we defended really well,” Smith said.

Bamba tallied a game-high 20 points, shooting 5 of 14 from the floor and 8 of 10 from the foul line as WSU slogged through a sloppy offensive night. The Cougars went 17 of 58 from the field – a season-low 29.3% mark – and 8 of 30 (26.7%) from deep. Standout players Rodman, Justin Powell and Andrej Jakimovski combined for 13 points on 4 of 25 shooting.

But the Huskies were similarly inefficient, shooting 19 of 56 (33.9%) from the floor and 4 of 18 (22.2%) from distance.

“Defending and rebounding (made the difference) – crashing the glass and stopping their best players,” Gueye said.

Guard Noah Williams, who transferred to Washington this offseason after three years as a regular in WSU’s starting lineup, led the Huskies with 12 points. Jeers rained down from the crowd any time Williams touched the ball.

“That was the message the whole week: Don’t make (Williams’ return) more than what it is,” Bamba said. “Obviously, we knew Noah would come in with energy, but we stayed focused and stuck to the game plan.”

Husky 7-footer Braxton Meah added 11 points and 10 rebounds. UW forward Keion Brooks Jr., the No. 2 scorer in the Pac-12 at about 18 points per game, was held to eight points on 4 of 16 shooting.

“He’s their main focus. They run a lot of plays for him, and we shut him down,” Gueye said.

The slow-starting Cougars managed just 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, but found a shooting touch late in the half, compiling an 11-0 run that spanned about 4 minutes to build a 31-22 lead at the break.

Gueye and Powell hit back-to-back 3s during the spurt – the Cougs were 2 of 13 from deep before those triples.

UW missed its first 10 field-goal attempts of the night and failed to score for the first 6:30. But WSU’s offense also slumped early, and the Cougars only scored eight points during the Huskies’ game-opening scoreless stretch.

The Huskies battled back and went ahead 11-10 midway through the half, but that was UW’s only lead of the night. WSU quickly reclaimed the advantage on a highlight-reel fastbreak dunk from Gueye, and the Cougars stayed ahead by a slim margin for the next 5 minutes, until they created a double-digit buffer with their big run.