Balanced Washington State beats Utah 79-57

PULLMAN — Isaac Jones scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, all five starters reached double-figures in scoring and Washington State pulled away from Utah in the second half for a 79-57 victory on Wednesday.

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).

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).

Consecutive 3-pointers by Isaiah Watts helped put the Cougars up 57-49 near the midway point of the second half. 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 6-minute stretch and the Cougars led by 16 with 3 minutes remaining. Washington State scored the final nine points.

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 Isaac Jones hit a free throw to go up 33-24 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. Utah scored the last six points of the half and Keita’s buzzer-beating jumper made it 33-30 at the break.

UP NEXT

Washington State hosts Colorado on Saturday. Utah plays at Washington on Saturday.

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WASHINGTON STATE 79, UTAH 57

UTAH (14-6) — Br.Carlson 9-17 0-0 20, Keita 5-6 0-0 10, Bajema 1-4 0-0 2, Madsen 5-14 2-3 14, Smith 2-5 0-0 4, Erickson 2-6 0-1 4, Be.Carlson 0-2 1-2 1, Tarlac 1-3 0-1 2, Teat 0-2 0-0 0, Wahlin 0-0 0-0 0, Haddock 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 3-7 57.

WASHINGTON ST. (14-6) — Cluff 5-8 3-3 13, Jakimovski 5-10 2-4 14, Jones 6-16 5-6 17, Wells 5-9 0-0 13, Rice 2-9 6-8 10, Chinyelu 2-2 0-3 4, Houinsou 0-1 0-0 0, Watts 3-4 0-0 8, Rohosy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-59 16-24 79.

Halftime—Washington St. 33-30. 3-Point Goals—Utah 4-22 (Br.Carlson 2-4, Madsen 2-9, Smith 0-1, Teat 0-1, Be.Carlson 0-2, Erickson 0-2, Bajema 0-3), Washington St. 7-18 (Wells 3-5, Watts 2-3, Jakimovski 2-6, Jones 0-1, Rice 0-3). Rebounds—Utah 27 (Keita 9), Washington St. 38 (Jones 10). Assists—Utah 11 (Madsen, Smith, Erickson 3), Washington St. 9 (Rice 6). Total Fouls—Utah 20, Washington St. 15.