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WSU Men's Basketball

WSU cruises to 92-70 win over Portland, showing what coach David Riley called ‘growth’

PULLMAN – During the last week or so, Washington State head coach David Riley has worn out one word in particular : growth.

Riley wants to see it from his Cougars in ironing out turnovers, in late-game execution, and in taking care of business when an overmatched opponent comes to town.

In recent outings, the Cougars had fallen short in each of those categories. On Jan. 9, they took a costly Quad 4 loss to Pacific. They were shaky closing out a home victory over San Francisco on Jan. 4. They showed some fight against Gonzaga on Jan. 11, but they lost too many turnovers, and their depth issues showed at the wrong times.

WSU wasn’t perfect in a 92-70 West Coast Conference win over Portland on Saturday afternoon, but the hosts checked the boxes to complete a Quad 4 victory, the Cougars’ second straight. In Riley’s view, it added up to the growth he values most at this point in the season.

“The last 3½ minutes (of games), we’ve been god-awful,” Riley said. “We might be the worst team in the country in the last 3½ when we have a 10-point lead – and we didn’t do that today. We locked in.

“We had a good timeout. Our senior leaders were the ones that spoke about the importance of that last 3½ minutes, and it looked like we were playing basketball. We weren’t playing the score.”

WSU (15-5, 5-2 WCC) led by as many as 28 points and won by a convincing margin, following a narrow win over San Diego Thursday with a resounding triumph over a struggling Portland squad.

Five Cougars scored in double figures, including guard Nate Calmese with 23 points and forward Dane Erikstrup with 14, earning WSU’s first double-digit victory since Dec. 30.

The Cougars limited turnovers , committing just 10 . That’s far better than their recent showings: 17 against San Diego, 16 against Gonzaga and 18 against Pacific. It rates as WSU’s fewest turnovers in a game since it had eight in a loss to SMU on Nov. 27.

It’s another way Riley is seeing his team grow.

In San Diego, after his group secured a quick 18-2 lead , Riley saw his Cougars start to relax a bit and let their worst habits creep into their play.

“And then,” Riley said, “I think it’s almost like we feel – not that it’s gonna be easy, but we can start taking shortcuts and kind of doing our own thing and not trusting what’s been working. So I think we’re starting to understand what that looks like, and hopefully, we continue to grow.”

Calmese had only one turnover, a step in the right direction. He had six against San Diego and four apiece against Gonzaga and Pacific, sailing passes out of bounds and losing his handle when he got sped up in transition. He shored that up, staying in control as he played his game. He showed the kind of offensive and defensive spark he can provide when he’s not doing too much.

Calmese showed it most on offense with his third consecutive 20-point game.

He converted a number of floaters in the lane, showing deft touch to finish over taller defenders, and handed out eight assists. But if there’s one part of his game he knows needs work, it’s his 3-point shot. He was 1 of 5 against Portland.

Calmese is shooting 27% this season on 3-pointers. He hit three crucial ones to beat San Diego on Thursday night, making him 5 of 13 during his past six games, an improvement to 38%. That stretch includes a 0-for-8 span in three earlier games, but he’s trending up, though the overall numbers might not bear that out.

“The results haven’t been there. … That’s (1 for 5) not good enough,” Calmese said. “I just gotta stay in the gym. Just stay confident. I think once I add that to my game, it’s probably gonna be basically unguardable.

“So I just gotta keep working, keep doing that. I’ve been in the gym with George (Galanopoulos), Klink (Taymon Klinkefus, graduate assistant), so I just gotta keep working, keep getting game reps. I think one of these games I’ll go 4 for 5, so it’s gonna come soon.”

WSU, which returns to action Thursday on the road against fourth-place Santa Clara, showed solid physical play. The Cougars turned 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points. Forward ND Okafor totaled 12 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes, his most of the season.

After losing twice last week, the Cougars are back to growing, at least the way Riley sees it. The kinds of habits they’ve formed lately, he hopes, will stick for the rest of the season.