Erikstrup, Watts and Watts boost Wazzu to 57-point second half in win over Missouri State

PULLMAN — Washington State men’s basketball coach David Riley’s team is full of shooters, even with senior guard Cedric Coward out for the season.

That much is clear at the end of WSU’s home slate of nonconference games as all five starters hit double digits in a 91-78 victory over Missouri State (5-5) on Saturday at Beasley Coliseum.

Senior Dane Erikstrup and sophomore Isaiah Watts led the way with 20 points apiece.

Cougar offense finds its groove for 57 second-half points

WSU (9-2) came out of the gates slow, falling behind 9-2 within the game’s first few minutes.

Missouri State’s fierce approach to the paint sent several bodies to the hardwood and led to free throws for both teams early in the game.

WSU trailed for much of the first 10 minutes and led by no more than two scores for the next 10 minutes because of a commitment to the 3-point shot that simply wasn’t falling. WSU missed five shots from inside the arc but went a frigid 20% (2-for-10) from beyond the arc in the first half.

After a scrappy opening 20 minutes that saw WSU turn the ball over nine times, the Cougs flipped a switch and the electric duo of Isaiah Watts and LeJuan Watts (no relation) shot lights out.

The pair combined for 37 points and five 3-pointers with Isaiah Watts posting 20 points and seven rebounds at a 6-for-10 clip with four 3-pointers and LeJuan Watts notching 17 points on a perfect 7-for-7 mark from the floor.

Erikstrup matched Isaiah Watts with 20 points with two 3-pointers, four assists, two blocks and a steal.

EWU transfer Ethan Price posted 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven boards.

The senior from Bury St. Edmunds, England, eclipsed 500 rebounds on Saturday, making him the first Coug since Kyle Weaver (2004-08) to reach 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds and 200 career assists.

“It’s a big accomplishment. I think (after) every milestone you kind of take a minute just to think how long that would take to get 500 rebounds or 1,000 points, wherever it is,” Price said. “I’m super grateful to be able to do it.”

The first three years of Price’s college career took place 90 minutes up the road at Eastern Washington.

Price, Riley’s first recruit, was one of four EWU Eagles to follow their coach from Cheney to Pullman.

“He’s just been ‘Mr. Steady,’” Riley said. “I’ve been with him my whole time as a head coach, and so we’ll see. I guess next year is the real test for me to see if I’ve just been riding Ethan’s coattails for four years, but he’s a heck of a player, heck of a person and excited for him to finish out his senior year the right way.”

You’ll see that on SportsCenter

Not only did multiple Cougs have the hot hand on Saturday, they made highlight-reel-worthy plays that may very well make their way onto ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10.

With the Cougs beginning to pull away from Missouri State in the closing minutes of the first half, WSU held the ball to drain the clock. Erikstrup drove to the rim on the right side for a layup giving the Bears just a few seconds to inbound the ball and get off a half-court shot.

They never got the chance.

Nate Calmese burst through the Bears’ passing lane, intercepting the Missouri State inbound pass, cranking his body to the right and firing a buzzer-beating fadeaway to put the Cougs up 34-27 at halftime.

Erkstrup said that Calmese makes hustle plays like that all the time in practice.

“When I saw him steal it and he put it up I was just like a fan,” Erkstrup said as he tilted his head up and imitated watching the shot fly by. “I was just watching.”

Calmese’s hustle play highlighted a 14-point, seven-assist, three-steal performance.

Erkstrup was more than a bystander on WSU’s biggest second-half highlight. The senior from Beaverton, Ore., rainbowed a pass up and over the rim and straight into the paws of LeJuan Watts who slammed in the alley-oop and watched it fall through the nylon and onto the hardwood while he swung on the rim.

“I just saw (LeJuan Watts) coming, and then the big dude decided to come tag along with the guard. I said, ‘All right,’ and it worked out,” Erikstrup said. “So great play.”

“We suck at the end of games”

After a tight, scrappy first half, WSU built an 18-point lead on two different occasions, once with 7:54 to go and again with 3:24 to go. Both times, Missouri State cut into it as Dez White, who scored 30 points versus Indiana State last week, hit four 3-point shots in the span of three minutes.

After WSU gained its second 18-point lead, the Bears tagged 13 more points into the final three minutes of the game to lose by 13.

“Sometimes we’re too high and sometimes we’re too low,” Erikstrup said. “So we just got to find a way to be more consistent and keep applying the pressure to these teams and not letting them come back in the game. We should be beating them by like, 25, 30, not 10 or 15.”

Riley did not mince words in the postgame news conference.

“I don’t know what it is, we suck at the end of games,” Riley said. “Like that’s the best way to put it. Our defense has been atrocious the last four minutes of every single game I think except for one; that’s something we got to fix.”

Riley said that his team has shown it is capable of playing effective defense, but has fallen victim to playing “prevent defense” with big leads. This has led to defensive lapses and a torrent of scoring from their opponents, who typically play faster and more aggressively while trailing late.

Apple Cup up next

Next up, the Cougars hit the road to wrap their nonconference schedule, traveling first to the Emerald City to meet the Washington Huskies, their former Pac-12 Conference rival.

In their first year in the Big Ten, the Huskies are off to a 7-3 start with an 0-2 record in conference.

“It’s what makes college basketball great is these rivalries, and I think this is one of the best ones in all the country,” Riley said. “So we’re gonna have our work cut out for us. They got a really good team. They’re physical. They’ve been playing well. So just excited for that challenge.”

WSU and UW tip off for the 300th time at 8 p.m. Wednesday (FS1) at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

Three Cougs including Coward out for season

Riley announced three players will be out for the season including the team’s leading scorer, Coward. Also out are freshman guard Marcus Wilson and sophomore forward Rihards Vavers. Coward and Vavers had surgery this week and Vavers broke bones in both hands.

Coward led WSU in scoring with 17.7 points per game through six contests with a 55% clip and 40% mark from beyond the arc.

Wilson played in four games, totaling 30 minutes on the court with six points and three rebounds.

Vavers played 21 minutes between two games and posted nine points and five rebounds.

“We’ve had a tough string of luck with those guys. There’s three amazing players, amazing people,” Riley said. “We’re gonna have three great coaches for us this year that will be added to our staff where they can help coach, they can help with the practices and still be a part of our team and (we’ll) hopefully get them back next season.”

MISSOURI ST. (5-5)

Osei-Bonsu 5-7 1-4 11, Brady 5-11 3-4 14, Hampton 5-10 0-0 11, King 5-10 0-0 12, White 6-16 0-0 16, Martin 2-5 0-1 5, Oba 3-4 1-2 8, Udemadu 0-0 1-2 1, Downing-Rivers 0-0 0-2 0, Valentine 0-1 0-0 0, Murray 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-64 6-15 78.

WASHINGTON ST. (9-2)

Erikstrup 6-7 6-8 20, Price 5-12 0-2 12, L.Watts 7-7 2-2 17, Calmese 5-10 4-6 14, I.Watts 6-10 4-4 20, Okafor 3-4 2-2 8, Thrastarson 0-1 0-0 0, Gerrits 0-0 0-0 0, Wynott 0-0 0-4 0. Totals 32-51 18-28 91.

Halftime — Washington St. 34-27. 3-Point Goals — Missouri St. 10-26 (White 4-9, King 2-7, Hampton 1-1, Martin 1-2, Oba 1-2, Brady 1-5), Washington St. 9-21 (I.Watts 4-7, Erikstrup 2-3, Price 2-6, L.Watts 1-1, Thrastarson 0-1, Calmese 0-3). Fouled Out — Erikstrup. Rebounds — Missouri St. 28 (Hampton 11), Washington St. 24 (Price, I.Watts 7). Assists — Missouri St. 16 (Brady 6), Washington St. 17 (Calmese 7). Total Fouls — Missouri St. 26, Washington St. 17. A — 3,304 (11,671).

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