The season likely comes to a close in Las Vegas.
The Washington State Cougars season likely came to a close on Sunday night after losing to the San Francisco Dons 86-75 in the WCC quarterfinals.
Despite a 26-point performance from Ethan Price, 20 from LeJuan Watts, and a double double from Nate Calmese, it wasn’t enough to keep WSU in the WCC tournament. USF smothered WSU on the glass, hauling in 21 offensive rebounds and 49 rebounds in total, while WSU grabbed just 25 total rebounds. The 21 offensive rebounds led to 21 second chance points for the Dons. Ryan Beasley led all scorers with 29.
WSU was without senior Dane Erikstrup for most of the game, who took an elbow to the face early on. Erikstrup did return to the court briefly after exiting the game to be examined but didn’t play for very much longer. He finished with nine minutes played.
The Cougars had the game tied at 34 all with a bucket to open the second half, but USF put together an 18-7 run to go up double digits. WSU answered right back with a 12-2 run to pull the game back within a point thanks to a Rihards Vavers three to bookend the run. Unfortunately for WSU, that would prove to be the peak of their momentum. USF began to pull away, slowly pushing their lead all the way out to 12 and would keep WSU at an arms length away down the stretch. The Cougars only got as close as eight points with 2:30 remaining before USF got out to a game-high 13 points with free throws to close out WSU’s time in the WCC tournament.
Pending an invite to a postseason tournament, this is likely the end for the 2024-25 WSU season and year one for David Riley. Like the city where they saw there season end, it all starts with highs and flashes of potential but finishes in disappointment and frustration.
