Washington State’s men beat UI in another nailbiter

PULLMAN — It wasn’t pretty basketball, and the stands at Beasley Coliseum were without spectators for the Battle of the Palouse’s 276th edition.

Still, the neighboring universities from these fertile fields put forth a classic on Wednesday in the 114-year-old rivalry series — the closest game between the men’s teams from Washington State and Idaho in seven years, and one of the most entertaining contests for border-town bragging rights in recent memory.

The heavily favored Cougars shook off an abysmal shooting start, soaring ahead with a 19-0 run midway through the second half. WSU just barely stood its ground down the stretch for another tense finish in a 61-58 defeat of the persistent Vandals.

“Another tough, tight game for us,” said Cougs coach Kyle Smith, whose team trailed at halftime for the fourth game in a row, yet improved to 4-0. “We really got off to a rough start, and a lot of it had to do with how Idaho came in here determined, disciplined, and out-competed us.

“Luckily, we were able to kinda pull ourselves together there.”

Once again, WSU's defense kept it close enough for long enough, allowing its offense to snap out of a severe funk. The Cougars finally reclaimed the lead at the 10:51 mark of the second half after trailing for the previous 24 minutes.

Freshman Andrej Jakimovski broke out, canning a pair of 3-pointers; DJ Rodman put in two skillful blow-by layups and guard Noah Williams contributed another slick finish in the momentum-swiping rally, which concluded with the Cougs up by 10 points.

UI had clearly outplayed Wazzu in the earlier stages of the night, only to go ice cold for six crucial minutes later. WSU's first half on offense was all out of rhythm, but it at last found a groove, spurred by defense-generated breakaways.

“We know how to fight through adversity. We’re pretty good at it,” said Williams, who was clutch throughout the second half. “It’d be great to win a game by double digits, but at the end of the day ... I love playing crunch-time minutes.”

UI (0-3), despite being down 12 with 4:23 to go — and in spite of distinct athletic disadvantages — clawed back in the final two minutes behind buckle-down defense and three consecutive 3s from Moscow High School grad Gabe Quinnett, DeAndre Robinson and Damen Thacker. A driving Thacker floater cut the Cougar lead to 57-56 with the clock ticking under a minute.

WSU guard Isaac Bonton, who’d been frustrated for much of the game, answered with a nervy midrange jumper, and Williams followed a quick dunk from UI forward Scott Blakney by sinking two free throws. Down three, a Blakney lay-in attempt clanked off the rim, and time ran out.

“We liked the competitive fight we had,” Idaho coach Zac Claus said. “... It just shows we’re making progress, but you’re never satisfied. We’re not going to take any consolation from playing a close game.”

Williams, the sophomore from Seattle, led all scorers and matched a career-best with 19 points. He netted all eight of his free-throw attempts and added four rebounds, four assists and two blocks to his well-rounded output. Bonton tacked on 17 points and eight boards, while Jakimovski had a career-high 11 points, and sparked Wazzu’s comeback.

“He has incredible confidence in himself,” Jakimovski said of Williams, who’s fast becoming a Wazzu star.

The Cougs shot 36.4 percent in the first half before converting 48 percent of their takes in the second. The Vandals went 23-for-61 from the floor (37.7 percent), and were inconsistent from distance (7-of-22).

WSU coughed it up 17 times as it remains searching for a comfortable rotation, but was good enough on the glass and in transition to furnish an edge. The Cougars also played without starting forward Aljaz Kunc, who Smith said will return from injury next week.

“We can’t get settled. We’re turning the ball over too much. A little discouraged by that,” Smith said. “The positives: We’ve been able to come back, stay the course, keep competing and we’ve been good in tight games, been able to persevere. It’s easy to give those away. ... We haven’t played a complete game yet, but we have played well enough in stretches.”

Robinson paced UI with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Hunter-Jack Madden scored 13, six during a personal first-half hot streak. Blakney totaled 12 points, but only four in the second half as sizable Wazzu keyed in on the standout senior. WSU 7-footer Vova Markovetskyy swatted away three second-half Idaho attempts.

“Other than those late 3s we gave up ... it could’ve been a really good defensive effort,” Smith said. “(Defense) gives us a chance. But we really gotta work on our offensive execution, really gotta work on rebounding.”

The Vandals led by 11 points with five minutes until the break, capitalizing on a Cougar drought consisting of rash decisions and decent looks that rattled out.

WSU shot 1-of-12 and committed seven giveaways during the near-eight-minute stretch. UI, meanwhile, played with patience on both ends, and was more energetic and fluid offensively with its screen game — to free up short-range windows — than it’d be at any other point as its advantage started to disappear after intermission.

“They brought it. They had everything to gain and we had everything to lose,” Smith said of WSU’s farmland foes. “They were motivated, they were excited, which is something to learn from.

“They prepared and competed hard, and that was good for us. Thank God we were able to put it together for a stretch, but we really aren’t comfortable with each other, trusting each other enough. We gotta get better there.”

IDAHO (0-3)

Blakney 6-11 0-0 12, Quinnett 3-11 0-0 8, Robinson 5-8 2-2 14, Thacker 3-8 0-0 8, Garvin 1-4 0-0 3, Madden 5-14 3-3 13, Christmas 0-2 0-2 0, Wilson 0-1 0-2 0, Thiombane 0-1 0-0 0, Christensen 0-0 0-0 0, Kilgore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 5-9 58.

WASHINGTON ST. (4-0)

Jakimovski 4-6 0-0 11, Rodman 2-7 1-1 5, Abogidi 2-6 2-4 6, Bonton 6-15 4-9 17, Williams 5-7 8-8 19, Rapp 0-3 0-0 0, Markovetskyy 1-2 1-2 3, Bamba 0-0 0-2 0, Fitzgerald-Warren 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 16-26 61.

Halftime: Idaho 29-23. 3-Point Goals: Idaho 7-22 (Robinson 2-3, Thacker 2-4, Quinnett 2-6, Garvin 1-2, Christmas 0-1, Thiombane 0-1, Madden 0-5), Washington St. 5-11 (Jakimovski 3-4, Williams 1-1, Bonton 1-3, Rapp 0-1, Rodman 0-2). Rebounds: Idaho 25 (Robinson 8), Washington St. 37 (Bonton 8). Assists: Idaho 12 (Garvin 3), Washington St. 12 (Williams 4). Total Fouls: Idaho 22, Washington St. 14.

Clark may be reached at cclark@lmtribune.com, on Twitter @ClarkTrib or by phone at (208) 848-2260.