Cougs topple Utah for another marquee hoops win

Isaac Jones tallied a double-double to lead five Washington State starters in double figures and the Cougars earned a marquee men’s basketball victory against Utah on Wednesday at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman.

Jones scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Andrej Jakimovski scored 14 points, Oscar Cluff and Jaylen Wells added 13 each and Myles Rice had 10 points for the Cougars (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12), who won 79-57 against a team ranked No. 24 in the NCAA NET rankings.

Branden Carlson scored 20 points, Keba Keita had 10 points and nine rebounds and Gabe Madsen scored 14 points for the Utes (14-6, 5-4).

“I thought it was a really good game for us obviously after playing them at their place and it got away from us,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “They’re dinged up a little bit but everyone is at this time. We played with a purpose. I think we have a little more confidence with how to win those games.

“We just seem to be getting better and better, hopefully.”

Utah, which had three starters get injured throughout the game, cut the Cougars’ lead to 51-49 midway through the second period on a Keita jumper. But that was as close as the Utes would get.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Isaiah Watts helped put the Cougars up 57-49 with 10:11 to go. After hitting 36% of their shots in the first half, the Cougars opened the second period with 11-of-17 shooting.

After Carlson’s jumper got Utah within 59-51, the Utes missed 7-of-8 shots in a six-minute stretch and the Cougars led by 16 with three minutes remaining.

WSU ended the game on a 9-0 run, including a pair of treys by Wells.

“The thing I was most proud of is the way we played at the end,” Smith said. “Got the ball side to side ... Myles made some great decisions, got us some great shots and that made it really hard for them to come back.”

The Cougars went up by nine points twice in the first half, first when Jakimovski hit a 3-pointer for a 25-16 lead and secondly when Jones hit a free throw to go up 33-24 with 2 ½ minutes remaining. Utah scored the last six points of the half and Keita’s buzzer-beating jumper made it 33-30 at the break.

Utah’s 57 points were the fewest it has scored in a game this season.

WSU outrebounded the Utes 40 to 29 and enjoyed a 21-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Next up, WSU hosts Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“One at a time, but this was big for us,” Smith said. “This next one, they’re really good. ... It’ll be a great opportunity for us.”