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Cougars put it to Vandals in second half

From news services and local reports 

PULLMAN — Idaho scored the game’s first seven points, and hung with Washington State for most of the rest of the first half. 

But the rest of the game was all Cougars. 

WSU pulled away from a seven-point halftime lead and routed the Vandals, 90-67 on Monday night before 3,838 at Beasley Coliseum. 

Nate Calmese had 18 points, three assists and three steals for WSU (3-0). LeJuan Watts recorded his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Dane Erikstrup hit three 3-pointers and scored 14 points in his first game with the Cougs, and ND Okafor had 12 points and six rebounds. 

“I think we learned a lot of good lessons. I don’t think we started off the game with the energy or momentum we needed,” said first-year WSU coach David Riley, the former Eastern Washington head man. “Hopefully we can learn from that. It’s always easier to learn during wins than losses.”   

In his first start, Isaiah Brickner led Idaho (1-2) with 13 points, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. Julius Mims, the former North Idaho College standout, had 11 points and 11 boards for his sixth double-double as a Vandal. 

Kolton Mitchell, a redshirt freshman from Lake City High, had four points and three assists in 27 minutes for the Vandals. 

Washington State won its sixth consecutive Battle of the Palouse in the 279th all-time meeting between the schools, a series dating back to 1906. 

Wazzu controlled the paint. The Cougs won the rebound battle 45-30, outscored the Vandals 46-34 in the paint, and had 10 blocks for the first time since rejecting 10 shots against Portland State, Dec. 2, 2023. 

The Vandals trailed by four points with 17:26 remaining in the second half before the Cougars used a 17-4 run to help build separation, and later delivered a 13-2 spurt to help put the game out of reach.   

Early in the second half while leading 46-37, Watts, a redshirt sophomore, scored 10, straight Wazzu points and capped it off with an electric putback slam to extend the Cougars lead to 56-41.  

WSU plays Iowa on Friday in Moline, Ill., as part of the John Deere Quad City Hoops Showdown. 

Idaho plays at BYU on Saturday. 

Washington St. 90, Idaho 67

IDAHO (1-2)

Mims 5-9 1-4 11, Mrus 2-6 2-2 7, Brickner 5-8 0-1 13, Mitchell 2-10 0-0 4, Payne 3-9 0-0 7, Gonzalez 3-6 0-0 6, Rose 1-6 4-6 6, Anderson 0-1 2-2 2, Linhardt 2-6 3-4 7, Klapper 0-0 4-4 4, Stevens 0-1 0-0 0, Steele 0-0 0-0 0, Yearout 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 16-23 67.

WASHINGTON ST. (3-0)

Erikstrup 5-11 1-2 14, Price 2-5 6-6 11, L.Watts 7-11 1-2 16, Calmese 8-15 1-2 18, Coward 1-3 2-2 4, I.Watts 3-8 3-3 9, Okafor 6-10 0-3 12, Wilson 2-3 0-0 6, Gerrits 0-0 0-0 0, Thrastarson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-66 14-20 90.

Halftime_Washington St. 38-31. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 5-24 (Brickner 3-3, Mrus 1-5, Payne 1-5, Anderson 0-1, Linhardt 0-1, Stevens 0-1, Yearout 0-1, Gonzalez 0-2, Rose 0-2, Mitchell 0-3), Washington St. 8-26 (Erikstrup 3-8, Wilson 2-2, L.Watts 1-2, Price 1-4, Calmese 1-6, Coward 0-1, I.Watts 0-3). Rebounds_Idaho 26 (Mims 11), Washington St. 42 (L.Watts 14). Assists_Idaho 8 (Mitchell 3), Washington St. 16 (Price, L.Watts, Calmese, Coward 3). Total Fouls_Idaho 20, Washington St. 25. A_3,838 (11,671).

Virginia 62, Coppin St. 45: At Charlottesville, Va., Blake Buchanan, a sophomore from Lake City High, hand four points, three rebounds and two blocked shots as the Cavaliers (2-0) beat the Eagles (0-4).