Myles Rice scored a career-high 28 points, a majority coming on six 3-pointers, as host Washington State outlasted Eastern Washington 82-72 in a nonconference game Monday night in Pullman, Wash.
The Cougars (5-1) had four other players score in double digits. Oscar Cluff scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds, Andrej Jakimovski and Rueben Chinyelu each scored 11, and Isaac Jones added 10 points and seven boards.
WSU was dominant inside, turning 15 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points and outscoring the Eagles 36-18 in the paint.
Ethan Price led EWU (1-5) with 17 points and six rebounds and Casey Jones scored 16.
WSU kept building double-digit leads only to see the Eagles rally.
Price scored seven points — on a 3-pointer, turnaround jumper and driving layup — on consecutive possessions to pull the Eagles within 48-43 with 14:05 left.
The Cougars again took a double-digit lead before EWU’s Mason Williams scored eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to make it 58-56 with 8:11 left.
The Cougars responded with a 10-0 spurt to regain control. Jakimovski scored six points, on a three-point play and a 3-pointer, during the run.
Rice, who missed the past two seasons while battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, made five 3-pointers in the opening 9:31 as the Cougars took a 40-32 halftime lead.
After overcoming an early four-point deficit, the Cougars led by as many as 13 points, 27-14 with 9:05 left in the half, thanks to Rice and their work on the offensive glass.
The Eagles switched to a zone defense to slow the Cougars and pulled within six points before WSU’s Joseph Yesufu made a driving layup to end the half.
Jones scored 14 points in the first half for EWU, going 9 of 12 from the free-throw line.
–Field Level Media