Washington St. downs Portland St. for 69-60 win

Dec 14, 2020, 12:47 am

PULLMAN, Wash. -- — Noah Williams scored 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting and Isaac Bonton scored 16 and Washington State held Portland State at bay with a 69-60 win on Sunday.

T.J. Bamba scored 15 points for Washington State and Andrej Jakimovski 12.

WSU (5-0) is off to its best start since 2017-18 when it started that season with six straight wins. The Cougars are receiving votes in the AP Top-25 for the first time since that season.

The five wins have been by a combined 22 points.

Charles Jones' layup with 10:31 remaining brought the Vikings within 44-41 with 10:31 left. Bamba followed with a 3-pointer 28 seconds later and Washington State gradually began to pull away.

Jakimovski's 3-pointer with 4:47 remaining put the Cougars up 60-50. Washington State never trailed.

Paris Dawson led Portland State (1-2) with 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Amari McCray scored 12 with 11 rebounds for the Vikings.

Washington State now leads the all-time series with the Vikings, 9-0. The most recent meeting was on Dec. 6, 2015, a 91-67 Cougars’ win in Pullman.

Portland State now is 7-56 all-time against current members of the Pac-12 Conference.

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