WSU’s second-half surge lifts Cougs to 84-73 win over Fresno State

Cougs get it done without one of their stars.

The Washington State Cougars outscored the Fresno State Bulldogs 45-37 in the second half to secure an 84-73 win in the Acrisure Series in Palm Springs, California.

Nate Calmese led the way with 22 points on a very efficient 10/16 shooting from the floor. Ethan Price tacked on 16 points while dishing out six assists, and two other Cougs, LeJuan Watts and Isaiah Watts, also scored double-digit points. Defensively, ND Okafor set the tone with three blocks, including this emphatic one.

WSU (6-1) got things done in a different fashion. First, the Cougars were without their star, Cedric Coward, who’s dealing with an injury. In his absence, Okafor tied his season-high in minutes played, and freshman Tomas Thrastarson saw his first real dose of minutes, recording a +11 in the plus/minus category.

The Cougars also didn’t exactly shoot the lights out from beyond the arc, hitting just two of 14 trey attempts in the first half but managed to hit four of their eight tries in the second to finish shooting 27.3% as a whole. It was their second worst mark of the season—their worst coming in the loss to Iowa—yet, their ability to hit an incredible efficient 66.7% of their two-pointers helped make up for their lack of explosive threes.

Fresno State managed to keep pace with WSU through most of the game, taking advantage of some early WSU turnovers, but the Cougars really broke away near the midpoint of the second half. A 9-0 run behind four points from Okafor and five from Calmese helped push WSU’s lead to 16 with 10:02 remaining in the ballgame.

The Bulldogs would never break back within double digits, quieting any Bulldog attempt at a game-changing run with a bucket on the other end.

WSU will now play the SMU Mustangs on Wednesday night for the right to call themselves the 2024 Acrisure Series champions.