WSU pulls away from Fresno State in second half for 84-73 win, moving on to tournament title game

Washington State will be playing for a tournament title.

The Cougars pulled away from Fresno State late for an 84-73 win Wednesday night in Palm Springs, California, where WSU will take on SMU on Thursday evening for the Acrisure Holiday Invitational championship.

The Cougs (6-1) earned the opportunity by getting four players scoring in double figures: Guard Nate Calmese led with 22 points, forward Ethan Price followed with 16, wing LeJuan Watts added 14 and forward Dane Erikstrup chipped in 13. Up only three at halftime, WSU opened up a lead as wide as 18 in the second half.

“I thought the biggest thing was our guys playing unselfishly,” WSU coach David Riley said in his postgame radio interview. “And it wasn’t like we were playing selfishly in the first half, because I thought we got good shots — but they were kinda like funky, out-of-rhythm, early good looks that they were kinda baiting us into. The sign of a really good team is that they can pass up those good ones and get great ones.”

Without star wing Cedric Coward, who is reportedly out with a shoulder injury, the Cougars turned it on in the second half, using a sharper, faster offense to generate better shots. WSU shot 56% from the field in the second stanza, including 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, a lower number of attempts that indicates the Cougs made a conscious effort to get two feet in the paint. That paid off with 50 total points in the paint.

The game changed when WSU ripped off a 10-3 run early in the second half. It started with a jumper from Calmese, who also registered 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and it continued with a triple from Price, who followed a scoreless outing last week with his first double-digit scoring game in two weeks. The Cougs then got a 3 from guard Isaiah Watts, who scored 8 points on 11 shots, and it ended with a layup from forward ND Okafor, who paired 9 points with 3 key blocks.

That sequence gave the Cougars their first double-digit lead of the night, and it got bigger from there. After another scoring flurry, this one a 9-0 spurt fueled by buckets from Calmese and Okafor, WSU had secured a 67-51 lead. The Cougs’ offense picked up as the pace did.

“To have a shooting team like us with that many open shots, shoot eight threes in the second half,” Riley said, “really pounded in the paint. That helped our percentages, and we shot 56 from the field, 50 from two. That’s what got us the rhythm.”

For the Cougs, who shot only 6-for-22 from beyond the arc, it was important to get a boost from Price. In WSU’s win over Eastern Washington last week in Spokane, Price fouled out without scoring, registering only 14 minutes. A few days later, against Fresno State, WSU’s first play was drawn up for Price, who knocked down a wing 3.

Especially without Coward, whose absence length is unclear, WSU needed it from Price. On top of supplying one block off the glass, Price dished out six assists. It was clear he was in a much better rhythm than he was last week.

At one point in Tuesday’s game, Riley said, he put heads together with assistant coach George Galanopoulos to decide who should run point guard for the upcoming set. He decided on Price, a 6-foot-10 forward.

“He just started laughing. It’s very unique,” Riley said of his team’s offense. “I think that’s why, early on in the year, we have some turnovers — because we’ve got guys that are kinda playing the point that haven’t played the point their whole life. And it takes a little bit of time to get used to that and make decisions, and hopefully we can start shoring that up, because 19 turnovers is too much.”

It’s still early, but that has developed into a troubling trend for WSU. The Cougs lost 21 turnovers in their win over Eastern Washington last week, giving them 40 in two games. They’ve committed double-digit turnovers in all but one game this season, including 12 against Northern Colorado, 18 against Iowa, 12 against Idaho and 21 against Portland State.

In Tuesday’s game, Calmese coughed up seven turnovers, his fourth game of five-plus. Some are to be expected of a point guard, considering he handles the ball the most, but Riley knows it’s an issue.

But the Cougs would rather solve problems in wins. They’re doing a good job of that recently. They get another chance at a victory on Wednesday evening.