Pullman, WA – The inside-outside combo of Isaac Jones and Myles Rice combined for 46 points to lead the Washington State Cougars to a 71-61 victory over Portland State at Beasley Coliseum.
 
And while those two were impressive, the Vikings will point to their poor shooting as costly in the loss. PSU shot a season-low .309 from the field (21-68), getting 10 shots blocked by the much taller Cougars, while scoring a season-low 61 points.
 
Washington State never led by more than seven points until the final minute, and Portland State held a lead as late as 12 minutes to go in the game. But the Vikings made only three of their last 13 shot attempts in the game.
 
Portland State stayed close with strong offensive rebounding (14) and good ball-handling (7 turnovers). That allowed them to get 13 more field goal attempts. However, the Cougars were 28-55 from the field (.509), while the teams were even at the free throw line with both shooting 13-18.
 
The 6-foot-9 Jones scored 27 points to go with 11 rebounds. He led a powerful inside game for Washington State that totaled 50 points in the paint. Rice, a dynamic freshman and the team's leading scorer this year, had 19 points.
 
Four Vikings scored in double figures with KJ Allen and Isaiah Johnson getting 11 points each. Ismail Habib and Jorell Saterfield scored 10 points each.
 
Portland State dropped to 6-2 on the season with the loss. The Vikings are now 4-2 in games away from home. Washington State improved to 6-1, 5-0 at home. The Cougars have also beaten Idaho and Eastern Washington of the Big Sky Conference.
 
Portland State was challenged to score inside against the bigger Cougars, but hit early three-point field goals to stay close.
 
Habib's runner in the lane had the Vikings ahead 15-14 with 11:15 to go in the first half. The Cougars, behind Jones, rallied to get to a seven-point lead.
 
Despite a rough shooting half, PSU went on a 10-3 run in the final three minutes to tie the game at 31-31. Jones had 13 points and six rebounds for the Cougars in the first half. Allen scored two hoops inside in the final minute of the half and had eight points and four rebounds for the Vikings.
 
PSU had to feel good about the halftime tie after shooting only 12-36 in the first half (.333). Washington State was 13-25 for a .520 mark, but committed nine turnovers leading to 11 Vikings' points.
 
Early in the second half, Allen hit a three-pointer to give PSU a brief lead at 36-35. But the Cougars scored the next five points.
 
Then a 12-4 run by the Vikings, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Habib, got PSU to a 48-44 advantage with 12:29 remaining in the game. The Cougars answered again with an eight-point burst, with Rice getting five. Washington State never trailed again.
 
The Cougars went to a zone defense much of the second half, impacting the Vikings offense. That's when the shooting went south for Portland State as it made only three field goals the rest of the way.
 

GAME NOTES

• KJ Allen and Hunter Woods led the Vikings with seven rebounds each in the game.
• PSU has just 13 turnovers in its last two games combined. The Vikings average only 9.5 turnovers per game for the season.
• Washington State went into the game averaging over 80 points with a +17.0 scoring margin.
• Portland State comes home for two games next week. The Vikings host Lewis and Clark on Wednesday at 7 p.m., then George Fox on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games are at Viking Pavilion and can be seen on ESPN+.