Isaac Jones scored 21 points to help the Washington State men’s basketball team to a 78-57 win over Rhode Island in the consolation game at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off on Sunday afternoon in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Kymany Houinsou contributed 13 points in a reserve role and Rueben Chinyelu scored 12 points off the bench for Washington State (3-1), which produced 35 bench points compared to eight for Rhode Island.
Zek Montgomery scored 19 points and Luis Kortright had 13 points for Rhode Island (3-2).
The Rams shot 53.8 percent from the floor in the opening half but turned the ball over 10 times compared to three giveaways by Washington State, leaving Rhode Island down by seven points at the break.
Myles Rice had scored six straight points for Washington State when the leading scorer coming in (16.3 ppg) limped off the court with 16:21 left and the Cougars holding a 47-38 lead.
Kortright immediately sank a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six, but the Cougars answered with an inside basket from Oscar Cluff and a 3-pointer by Andrej Jakimovski to give them a 52-41 lead with 14:19 left in the game.
Rhode Island came back with a 6-0 run but couldn’t pull any closer.
Washington State, which came in shooting 63.3 percent from the line, was 2-for-8 when Jones made two free throws with 7:25 left to give the Cougars their biggest lead at 61-49.
Cluff then grabbed one of the 11 offensive rebounds for Washington State and put it back to extend the lead to 63-49 with 6:17 remaining.
Washington State was the first to gain separation when the Cougars used a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 27-18 with 7:13 left in the first half.
The Cougars grabbed the first double-digit lead at 34-24 on a layup by Houinsou with 3:39 left in the half, but the Rams fired back with an 8-0 run — the final six points coming from Kortright — which trimmed the deficit to 34-32 with 1:37 remaining.
Houinsou scored the final five points of the half on a slam dunk and a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 39-32 lead at the break.
Houinsou and Chinyelu combined for 18 points in the first half.
–Field Level Media