Cruised to 7-1.
The Washington State Cougars had no trouble with the UC Riverside Highlanders, dispatching them from wire-to-wire for the 86-49 win.
WSU (7-1) clearly outmanned UCR (4-6), racing out to a 34-6 lead within the first 14 minutes and stretched out to an even bigger lead by the time the clock hit triple zeros. Everybody got theirs in this one, with three Cougs hitting double-digit points and another trio being just two points shy. Jaylen Wells came off the bench and led the way with a game high 18 points, cashing three triples.
The Cougs grabbed the first, and only, lead with two Isaac Jones free throws to start. An Oscar Cluff paint bucket, a Myles Rice fastbreak bucket and a Kymany Houinsou bucket made it an 8-0 run before the Highlanders finally got on the board. The Highlanders pulled within five before the Cougs delivered their first kill shot (Runs of 10< to 0) run. A 23-0 steamroll of a run that saw contributions from all over the Cougar roster. Isaiah Watts closed the run with a triple, then hit another shortly after to push the lead to 30 not even 15 minutes into the game. The Cougs nearly closed the half up 27, but a half court heave from UCR’s Isaiah Moses banked in to pull the Highlanders back within 24.
It was more of the same for WSU in the second half, big runs answered the Highlander buckets, WSU even recorded their second kill shot of the game with a 13-0 run to push the lead to a game-high 41. Wells tacked on an extra five points in the final minutes for good measure as the Cougs racked up a blowout win.
The Cougs will be back in action on Sunday when they welcome in the Grambling State Tigers.
