Wazzu’s three-point barrage buries Pacific in 87-71 win
· Yahoo Sports
The Washington State Cougars snapped their three-game losing streak in a big way on Wednesday night, defeating the Pacific Tigers 87-71.
WSU’s (12-16 overall, 7-8 in conference) offense went nuclear, finishing with an absurd 1.403 points per possession, their second-best mark of the season, and splashed 14 three-pointers. What makes the performance even more remarkable is that Pacific (17-12, 8-8) isn’t a terrible defensive team. In fact, entering tonight’s game, their defense was ranked 89th on KenPom for defensive efficiency.
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The Cougars welcomed back Tomas Thrastarson into the rotation, who had missed the last 12 games with an injury.
Both offenses couldn’t have scripted up a better start. For the Tigers, they shot 46.9% from the field and cashed half of their three-point attempts. They were also able to haul in eight offensive rebounds, good for seven second-chance points. All in all, the Tiger offense put up a very solid 1.212 points per possession in the first half. As remarkable as the Tiger offense was in the first 20 minutes, it was still no match for what the Cougars were doing on the other end.
Despite the high benchmark the Cougars needed to clear to take a lead into halftime, their offense was burning the nets. Rihards Vavers led the charge in the first half, scoring 16 points and splashing four threes. But it wasn’t just a one-man show. Eemeli Yalaho tacked on 10 of his own with a pair of threes, Simon Hildebrandt knocked down back-to-back threes, and N.D. Okafor went to work down low with nine points. The Cougars finished the first half shooting 65.5% from the field, splashed eight of their 13 three-point attempts, and scored a monster 1.645 points per possession to hold an 11-point lead at the break.
The Tigers controlled the early parts of the second half as the Cougar offense finally began to cool, opening with an 18-9 advantage in the first seven minutes to pull all the way back within a point. It felt like this was trending towards another second-half collapse for the Cougars. Instead, the Cougars immediately countered with back-to-back threes from Jerone Morton. Okafor took on the torch with back-to-back buckets inside to make it a 10-0 run and push the lead right back to 11. While the Tigers were able to disrupt the run with a layup, the Cougars just continued to light up the scoreboard with another pair of threes from Hilderbrandt and Ace Glass, giving the Cougars a game-high 15-point lead. Try as the Tigers might to rally their way back into the game, the Cougars had an answer for any comeback effort. The Tigers could only get as close as 11 over the final 10 minutes as the Cougars picked up a huge conference win and snapped their three-game losing skid. The win moves WSU a half game back of that coveted four-seed in the WCC.
Somebody who didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard but deserves a shoutout is Adria Rodriguez. Rodriguez, from Sant Just, Spain, struggled heavily early in the season. While his defense was adequate, his offensive woes made it hard to justify putting him on the floor. But over these last few games, Rodriguez has seemed to find his game. Tonight, while he only had five points, his ability to create space and attack the rim looked miles better than it did just a month or two ago. He also tallied five assists, showing off his ability to find the open man, and made a great play defensively, jumping a pass perfectly for a steal. The biggest stat of the night for Rodriguez, however, was zero turnovers.
Not only was it big for WSU to snap their three-game win streak, but the win now gives them the tiebreaker over Pacific in the race for the four seed and could move the Cougars past San Francisco in the standings by the end of the night. Only three games remain on the WSU schedule, and their next game will be their last at Beasley Coliseum for the season as they welcome in the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday.