Cougs use offensive explosion to win Battle of the Palouse over Vandals

Nov. 12—PULLMAN — Washington State forward Dane Erikstrup missed a layup off the backboard with about 12-and-a-half minutes left in the second half. Luckily for him, his teammate and roommate LeJuan Watts was in the right place at the right time, drilling the second-chance layup to put the Cougs up by 15 points.

Watts flexed and let out a scream to join the 3,838-person crowd (minus the visiting Idaho fans) in celebration as he was mobbed by his teammates.

The Cougars (3-0) went on to beat the Vandals (1-2) by a score of 90-67 in the 279th Battle of the Palouse men’s basketball game Monday at Beasley Coliseum.

“We practiced that,” Watts said of the play, grinning ear to ear. “Yeah, we gotta have that roommate connection. So he threw it out the back, I gotta go get it for him.”

Watts’ second-chance dunk capped a 10-point personal run for the sophomore Eastern Washington transfer and was part of a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double.

Washington transfer Nate Calmese scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and Cal transfer ND Okafor posted 12 points off the bench in his WSU debut.

Vandals start fast, Cougars recover

The Vandals went on a 7-0 run in the opening two-and-a-half minutes, capitalizing off of three WSU turnovers and two misses.

Sophomore guard Jack Payne made the opening 3 for the Vandals and senior forward Julius Mims made his first two layups as part of an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double.

“It was a good start,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said. “I think the guys did a good job executing the game plan early. When you’re on the road, you really need to defend and rebound, and I think for stretches, especially in that first half, we did that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain that. Credit Washington State and their coaching staff for finding ways to generate some advantages in that second half.”

As a sign that WSU’s offensive struggles were temporary, EWU transfer Ethan Price’s first 3-point attempt bounced in and out of the rim.

Price played his part in drawing…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cougs-offensive-explosion-win-battle-045900378.html

Author : Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Moscow, Idaho

Publish date : 2024-11-13 04:59:00

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