Washington St. pulls away in second half, tops Seattle 79-61

Nov 13, 2021, 05:31 am

PULLMAN, Wash. -- — Tyrell Roberts scored 17 points and Washington State defeated Seattle 79-61 Friday night for the Cougars' 20th straight nonconference victory.

Roberts hit four 3-pointers and was joined in double-figure scoring by Dishon Jackson and Noah Williams with 13 points each and Mouhamed Gueye with 10. Jackson and TJ Bamba each grabbed nine rebounds. The Cougars (2-0) shot 48% which helped blunt a 19-of-33 performance at the free-throw line.

The Redhawks (1-1) were led by Nate Robinson who made four 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Riley Grigsby added 12 points, Darrion Trammel scored 11 points with seven assists and Viktor Rajkovi had 10 points and eight rebounds.

With WSU leading by three points at halftime, Gueye opened the second half with a dunk. That began a 14-3 run that left the Cougars ahead 49-35 less five minutes into the half.

Jackson had six straight points in under two minutes to keep the lead in double figures before the Redhawks got within nine on a basket by Rajkovi. That was as close as Seattle would get.

Seattle scored the game's first four points but the Cougars responded with a 10-0 run and clung to a 35-32 lead at halftime.

Seattle played its second game since Jim Hayford announced his resignation as head coach on Thursday. Hayford had been on paid administrative leave since last Friday following a published report that he had used a racial slur during a scrimmage. Associate head coach Chris Victor was named interim coach and got his first Division I victory in a 69-66 win over Alcorn State on Wednesday night.

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