MALIBU, Calif. (Hayden Wysup) – Washington State men's basketball defeated Pepperdine, 90-83, Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Big Picture: Washington State improved to 18-13 and finished WCC play at 8-10. The Cougars also secured the No. 6 seed in the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championships next week.
Inside the Stat Sheet: The Cougar bench stepped up, providing 35 bench points to the Waves' six reserve points. Wazzu also dished out a season-high 26 assists, its most in a single game in six season. WSU committed just nine turnovers.
Player Performances: Dane Erikstrup scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.
Ethan Price added 15 points with three 3-point field goals.
Nate Calmese recorded 10 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
ND Okafor scored a career-high 13 points with two blocks. Rihard Vavers added a season-high 12 points while going 4-of-4 from 3-point range.
Turning Point: Near the midway point through the first half the Cougars went on a 20-4 run to go up 30-16 and control a lead they held onto until the final buzzer.
Up Next: With WSU's win, it secured the No. 6 seed at next week's CU1 WCC Basketball Championships. The Cougars will enter the tournament in the third round, Saturday, March 8 with an 8:30 p.m. game at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
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WASHINGTON STATE POSTGAME NOTES
- With the result, the Cougars:
- Improve to 18-13 this season and finish 4-7 in road games
- Improve to 8-10 in WCC play and finish 3-6 in conference road games
- Improve to 6-3 all-time against Pepperdine and 2-2 against the Waves in Malibu
- Improve to 2-5 when wearing crimson uniforms
- Improve to 15-4 when leading at halftime
- Improve to 15-5 with 15+ assists and 5-1 with 20+ assists
- Improve to 13-1 when scoring 80+ points
- Improve to 10-4 when committing fewer than 15 turnovers
- Improve to 8-4 in games decided by fewer than 10 points
- Improve to 6-8 when allowing their opponent to score 80+ points
- WSU tallied 26 assists, the most single-game assists by a Coug team since recording 27 assists vs CSUN, Nov. 27, 2018
- The Cougars matched their season high with 35 made field goals on a season-high 74 field goal attempts
- Dane Erikstrup scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season
- Erikstrup recorded his 23rd double-digit performance this season and 45th of his D-I career
- Ethan Price scored 15 points for his 21st double-digit game as a Coug and 79th in his career
- Price recorded three blocks, matching his season-high, and his seventh game with multiple shot rejections
- ND Okafor set a career-high with 13 points, his fourth game as a Coug in double figures and sixth of his career
- Okafor finished with two blocks, his 11th game with multiple rejected shots
- Nate Calmese finished with 10 points for his 24th double-digit game this season and 53rd in his career
- Rihards Vavers scored a season-high 12 points, his second double-digit performance as a Coug, and 10th career
- Vavers matched his season high with his second blocked shot of the year
- Isaiah Watts matched his career high with five assists
- Watts matched his WCC season high with three steals
- Watts has led WSU in steals eight times this season and tallied multiple steals nine times
- Parker Gerrits made two 3-pointers, his first career game with multiple triples
- Tomas Thrastarson matched his career high with six rebounds
- Thrastarson also matched his career high with two steals
- For the sixteenth time this season at least four Cougs scored in double figures
- WSU used the same starting lineup for the ninth-straight game and 15th time this season
