A two-game win streak caps off the regular season.
The Washington State Cougars concluded their regular season on Saturday night with a win over the Pepperdine Waves 90-83. The win secured the Cougars the six-seed in next week’s WCC tournament.
WSU (18-13, 8-10 in conference) led by as much as 16 early in the second half, but unlike their last game, closed much stronger to seal the victory. While the Cougars never scored more than five unanswered in the second half, they were still able to knock down shots when they needed to and didn’t throw the ball around too much.
Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup led the Cougars in scoring with 15 points each. Erikstrup also hauled in 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
One of the key reasons WSU was able to close much stronger on Saturday was the contributions they got from their bench. N.D. Okafor scored 13 while Rihards Vavers was a perfect 4/4 from beyond the arc for 12 points of his own.
WSU was able to build a big lead early with a 20-4 run with scoring from all over the floor. Dunks and layups inside, threes from beyond the arc, and solid shooting from the free-throw line put WSU in front by 14 in the early going. As the Waves tried to use the three-ball to get back in the game, WSU returned the favor, with Parker Gerrits and Vavers each knocking down a pair of threes to keep the Cougar lead at double digits heading into the second half.
Throughout the final 20 minutes, the Waves would put together mini runs of momentum, but the Cougars were able to answer quickly. The Waves hot shooting second half—53% from the field and 57% from three—kept things interesting, but they never broke within seven points until the final 10 seconds of the game.
Now the Cougars will get ready for their innagural run in the WCC tournament. As the six-seed, WSU will be off until Saturday, playing one of San Diego, Pacific, or Loyola Marymount. If WSU can win its first game against one of those three, they will meet the three-seed San Francisco Dons on Sunday.