TJ Bamba scored a career-high 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting to lead Washington State to a 93-84 wire-to-wire victory over host Washington in the Pac-12 regular-season finale for both teams on Thursday night in Seattle.
DJ Rodman recorded 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Cougars (16-15, 11-9 Pac-12) won their sixth straight game. Mouhamed Gueye had 15 points and 10 rebounds for his Pac-12-leading 15th double-double and Andrej Jakimovski tallied 12 points and a career-best 17 rebounds.
Keion Brooks Jr. scored 22 points and Jamal Bey added 17 as Washington (16-15, 8-12) lost its second straight game. Koren Johnson had 13 points before fouling out, and Keyon Menifield tallied 11 for the Huskies.
The Cougars swept the season series and have won six of the past eight meetings in the Apple Cup rivalry.
Justin Powell added 11 points for Washington State, which shot 50.7 percent from the field and made 12 of 29 from 3-point range. The Cougars owned a 40-29 rebounding edge.
The Huskies connected on 50 percent of their attempts, including 9 of 20 from behind the arc.
Powell made three 3-pointers in the first six-plus minutes as Washington State ran out to a 19-3 lead.
The Huskies whittled away at their deficit and pulled within 30-26 on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 6:18 left in the half.
Bamba scored eight straight WSU points during a 12-5 spurt as the lead expanded back to 11 before Washington scored the final six to trail 42-37 at the break. Bamba scored 16 in the half for WSU and Brooks scored 11 for the Huskies.
Washington trailed by four early in the second half, but Bamba hit a jumper to cap a 13-5 run as the Cougars took a 57-45 advantage with 15:01 remaining.
Johnson’s jumper pulled the Huskies within 59-53 with 12:49 left before Rodman scored seven points and Bamba converted a three-point play during a 10-4 run that gave WSU a 69-57 lead with 9:11 left.
A short time later, Jakimovski made a 3-pointer and Bamba hit a jumper to make it 74-59 with eight minutes to play.
Gueye’s mammoth dunk and free throw made it 89-74 with 2:15 left as the Cougars closed out the solid victory.
–Field Level Media
