Andrej Jakimovski had 21 points and Isaac Jones tallied 13 points and nine rebounds against his former team in Washington State’s 84-59 victory Monday night over Idaho at Pullman, Wash.
Jones is coming off a season in which he averaged 19.4 points and 7.8 rebounds for Idaho after playing the previous three seasons at a community college, Wenatchee (Wash.) Valley College.
Jakimovski is the lone returning starter for the Cougars.
Washington State’s Myles Rice, diagnosed as cancer-free after a five-month battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Idaho has 12 new players on its roster under first-year coach Alex Pribble. Quinn Denker led the Vandals with 12 points. Kyson Rose added nine before fouling out.
The Cougars scored the first seven points and never trailed. They went on a 15-3 run to pull away to a 25-10 lead with 8:37 left in the first half. Jones had six points in the lane during the stretch.
The Cougars outscored Idaho 44-20 in the paint and 13-7 in second-chance points.
Washington State took a 41-28 lead into halftime behind 11 points from Jakimovski.
Idaho cut the lead to 42-31 with 18:24 left on a 3-pointer by D’Angelo Minnis, but Washington State went on a 10-0 run, with Jakimovski hitting two 3-pointers in that stretch.
Idaho did not come closer than 14 points afterward.
The Cougars struggled at the free-throw line, making 15 of 29 attempts. Jones was 3 of 8 and Rueben Chinyelu 4 of 8.
Idaho made 34.6 percent of its shots from the field, including 20 percent (f of 25) from 3-point range.
Washington State converted 54.4 percent of its field-goal attempts. The Cougars were 7 of 18 from beyond the arc, led by Jakimovski’s 3-of-8 performance.
Chinyelu finished with eight points and eight rebounds for the Cougars.
Washington State outrebounded Idaho 45-26.
–Field Level Media