Cougs use offensive explosion to win Battle of the Palouse over Vandals

PULLMAN — Washington State forward Dane Erikstrup missed a layup off the backboard with about 12-and-a-half minutes left in the second half. Luckily for him, his teammate and roommate LeJuan Watts was in the right place at the right time, drilling the second-chance layup to put the Cougs up by 15 points.

Watts flexed and let out a scream to join the 3,838-person crowd (minus the visiting Idaho fans) in celebration as he was mobbed by his teammates.

The Cougars (3-0) went on to beat the Vandals (1-2) by a score of 90-67 in the 279th Battle of the Palouse men’s basketball game Monday at Beasley Coliseum.

“We practiced that,” Watts said of the play, grinning ear to ear. “Yeah, we gotta have that roommate connection. So he threw it out the back, I gotta go get it for him.”

Watts’ second-chance dunk capped a 10-point personal run for the sophomore Eastern Washington transfer and was part of a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double.

Washington transfer Nate Calmese scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and Cal transfer ND Okafor posted 12 points off the bench in his WSU debut.

Vandals start fast, Cougars recover

The Vandals went on a 7-0 run in the opening two-and-a-half minutes, capitalizing off of three WSU turnovers and two misses.

Sophomore guard Jack Payne made the opening 3 for the Vandals and senior forward Julius Mims made his first two layups as part of an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double.

“It was a good start,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said. “I think the guys did a good job executing the game plan early. When you’re on the road, you really need to defend and rebound, and I think for stretches, especially in that first half, we did that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain that. Credit Washington State and their coaching staff for finding ways to generate some advantages in that second half.”

As a sign that WSU’s offensive struggles were temporary, EWU transfer Ethan Price’s first 3-point attempt bounced in and out of the rim.

Price played his part in drawing fouls and getting to the charity stripe. The senior forward sank each of his six free throws and made one 3-pointer to total 11 points.

EWU transfer Erikstrup added 14 points, going 3-for-8 from beyond the arc.

WSU coach David Riley said the Cougs did not start the game with the momentum they needed, but settled in.

Riley said that his message to his team at halftime, up just 38-31, was that there would be no point in making adjustments to the game plan if the team could not execute the game plan.

In his eyes, the Cougs took that challenge to heart and emerged in the second half with 52 points scored off of a 55.9% shooting in the period.

The game was foul-filled as the Cougs committed 25 fouls and the Vandals committed 20.

WSU walked away with the physical advantage, outrebounding Idaho 45-30 and outscoring the Vandals 46-34 in the paint.

“The big thing for us was our physicality,” Pribble said. “They outrebounded us in a major way. And, you know, you can’t win on the road if you’re not going to rebound the basketball.”

Cedric Coward, who entered the game as the Cougs’ leading scorer through two games, tallied just four points and took three shots from the floor.

“I think it speaks to Ced’s (Coward’s) ability,” Riley said. “You look at his plus-minus, he’s plus 28. He affected the game in other ways, he had five blocks. There’s a ton of stuff that he was able to do without scoring.”

Coward was responsible for five of the Cougars’ 10 blocks. The senior EWU transfer’s five blocks were the most by a Coug since Dishon Jackson’s five against California-Berkeley. in the Pac-12 tournament on March 9, 2022.

WSU’s Calmese scored just two points in the first half but posted 16 points in the second. He tipped off the second half with a steal-and-score to extend the WSU lead and finished with an 18-point, three-steal night.

Calmese, formerly of Lamar Univeristy in the Southland Conference, is one of five current Cougs who were Freshman of the Year of their respective conferences, joining Coward (NWC/D-III), Erikstrup (CCAA/D-II), Price (Big Sky), and Watts (Big Sky).

“All these guys have had more of an offensive identity,” Riley said of his roster. “Trying to get them to understand that it’s not just an offensive game, it’s a two-way game and the guys have bought into it. ... Nate (Calmese) especially has the chance to be the head of the snake.”

The Vandals were paced by Marist College transfer Isaiah Brickner, who posted 13 points and one steal.

“We’ve been able to rely on him to handle the basketball, against pressure, to be efficient around the rim,” Pribble said. “He made some 3s tonight. So I think Isaiah has a nice career ahead of him as a Vandal.”

ND Okafor’s WSU debut

Okafor made his WSU debut on Monday after sitting out the first week of the season with an injury.

The 6-foot-9 big man’s presence was felt by Wazzu as he totaled 12 points, six rebounds, a block and a steal.

With under 8:20 to go in the game, Okafor went up for a layup on the left side, missed it, grabbed his own rebound, tried again and drew a foul on his repeat trip up the hoop.

Okafor led a WSU bench that provided 27 points and seven rebounds.

“I love the way he came in and impacted the game,” Riley said. “What ND (Okafor) brings is a vertical lob threat that can space the floor with his rolling, and rim running and posting up, and he really brings the defense in.”

WSU shot 51.5% from the floor to Idaho’s 36.5%. The Cougs had five guys hit double figures, including Calmese (18), Watts (16), Erikstrup (14), Okafor (12) and Price (11).

Familiar faces

Riley and Pribble were on the same coaching staff at Eastern Washington about 10 years ago.

The Battle of Palouse was a contest between two former EWU assistants, but it was not the first time the two had met as peers on the Palouse.

The two coached against each other twice last season in Big Sky games. Riley was in his third year at the helm of EWU and Pribble was in his first at Idaho.

Ahead of Riley’s first year coaching on the Palouse, Riley said he and Pribble met for a meal in Moscow about a month ago.

“Just a great coach, a great friend, was able to work with him at Eastern Washington,” Riley said. “Alex is someone that really helped me early on in my career. He was an assistant when I was director of operations up there and he’s a heck of a coach and doing a great job with those guys.”

Monday was also a chance for two former Lapwai High School teammates, Idaho junior Titus Yearout and WSU freshman Kase Wynott, to share a court. Yearout got one minute on the floor and Wynott did not play.

“I knew it was going to be competitive,” Riley said. “I think he does such a good job of getting his guys to play hard and play connected and I think (Idaho is) gonna be a tough out in the Big Sky.”

Up next for the Cougs and Vandals

WSU hits the road for a neutral-site game against Iowa of the Big Ten Conference. The Cougars and Hawkeyes will meet at 5:30 p.m. Pacific on Friday at the John Deere Quad City Hoops Showdown in Moline, Ill. The Big Ten Network will broadcast the game.

The Vandals have a second shot at conquering Cougars as they face BYU at noon Saturday in Provo, Utah, in a game that will be streamed by ESPN.

IDAHO (1-2)

Mims 5-9 1-4 11, Mrus 2-6 2-2 7, Brickner 5-8 0-1 13, Mitchell 2-10 0-0 4, Payne 3-9 0-0 7, Gonzalez 3-6 0-0 6, Rose 1-6 4-6 6, Anderson 0-1 2-2 2, Linhardt 2-6 3-4 7, Klapper 0-0 4-4 4, Stevens 0-1 0-0 0, Steele 0-0 0-0 0, Yearout 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 16-23 67.

WASHINGTON ST. (3-0)

Erikstrup 5-11 1-2 14, Price 2-5 6-6 11, L.Watts 7-11 1-2 16, Calmese 8-15 1-2 18, Coward 1-3 2-2 4, I.Watts 3-8 3-3 9, Okafor 6-10 0-3 12, Wilson 2-3 0-0 6, Gerrits 0-0 0-0 0, Thrastarson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-66 14-20 90.

Halftime_Washington St. 38-31. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 5-24 (Brickner 3-3, Mrus 1-5, Payne 1-5, Anderson 0-1, Linhardt 0-1, Stevens 0-1, Yearout 0-1, Gonzalez 0-2, Rose 0-2, Mitchell 0-3), Washington St. 8-26 (Erikstrup 3-8, Wilson 2-2, L.Watts 1-2, Price 1-4, Calmese 1-6, Coward 0-1, I.Watts 0-3). Rebounds_Idaho 26 (Mims 11), Washington St. 42 (L.Watts 14). Assists_Idaho 8 (Mitchell 3), Washington St. 16 (Price, L.Watts, Calmese, Coward 3). Total Fouls_Idaho 20, Washington St. 25. A_3,838 (11,671).

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.