Seattle, WA – Washington State, led by Ronnie Harrison won 84-80 in Seattle against their cross-state rival, the Washington Huskies. WSU scored the first basket, however UW was able to jump ahead thanks to a 17-3 run. Just when the Huskies’ Lathan Sommerville got an electric alley-oop slam in transition and it looked like they had control, the Cougars started hitting 3’s going 4-of-7 in a three-minute span giving them the lead. After some gritty back and forth action, the first half ended with WSU in front 38-37.
Turnovers and fouls defined the start of the second half, there were six combined before LeJuan Watts kickstarted the Huskies, scoring a fastbreak layup. The teams went back and forth trading baskets again before Harrison scored 10 unanswered points putting the Cougars up by four. WSU stretched the lead to eight and, thanks to all the points scored from both teams being strictly from free throws after the 3:32 mark up to the 0:39 mark, the Cougars were able to put the game away.
LeJuan Watts set the pace for UW with 28 points on 7-of-12 from the field along with six rebounds. Watts was able to get to his spots, and despite the Huskies as a team going 6-of-23 from 3 point range, he made 2 of his 4. Nikola Dzepina had a strong performance in the paint, getting 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive end. Although he shot 4-of-12 from the field in 30 minutes off the bench, he was the only player on the Huskies who finished with a positive +/- at +6. Lathan Sommerville has made a case that he will perform at a higher level on offense this year, posting 19 points on 6-of-7 from the field and 7-of-11 from the line. He played strong inside, finishing at the rim with finesse and control. He also ran hard in transition and was rewarded by his teammates.
Ronnie Harrison found a way to lead the Cougars to this win with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks. He showed he is willing to do the heavy lifting on offense and can be an explosive scorer. Two of his three offensive rebounds were tip-in baskets that resulted from hard crashes off the perimeter and came in key moments of the game, one sparking his 10- point run and the other when the Cougars needed to keep the lead late in the second half. Lazerek Houston may not have had the best day shooting the basketball (1-of-9), however he was the initiator for WSU, finishing with four assists. Even though he was poor from the field, he made 12-of-15 from the line, a sign that this shooting performance will probably not be a trend downward. Houston was able to push through a poor shooting day and find a way to contribute to the win.
This article was written by Landon Brewer of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.
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