Portland St. Vikings vs Washington St. Cougars Match Player Stats On Dec 13, 2020

Noah Williams scored 18 points Sunday and Washington State improved to 5-0 with its most lopsided win of the season, a 69-60 nonconference verdict over visiting Portland State.

Three other players reached double figures for the Cougars, who won their first four games by a total of 14 points. Isaac Bonton added 16 before fouling out with 1:01 left, while reserve guard TJ Bamba tallied 15 points and Andrej Jakimovski hit for 12. Washington State canned 47.1 percent of its shots for the game, including 54.2 percent after halftime.

Paris Dawson came off the bench to lead the Vikings (1-2) with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Amari McCray chipped in 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 1:31 remaining. A lack of offense was Portland State's biggest downfall, as it connected on just 30.3 percent of its field goal tries and only 4 of 19 on 3-pointers.

Still, the Vikings pulled within a point twice in the second half, the last time on McCray's layup that made it 37-36 with 12:46 left. But Bonton stuck back his own missed shot, and Bamba converted a 3-point play in transition to restore a six-point lead that the Cougars nursed to the finish line.

Washington State took charge with a quick start, establishing a 13-5 lead at the 14:12 mark when Jakimovski stroked a 3-pointer. The Cougars upped the advantage to 20-9 when Volodymyr Markovetskyy converted a Vikings' turnover into a basket with 9:47 left in the half.

But Washington State's offense hit the skids for the half's remainder, managing just 10 points and making only three field goals in that span. However, Portland State wasn't able to make serious inroads on the deficit, getting no closer than six on Charles Jones' driving layup with 2:40 remaining.

Bonton finished the half by making a free throw after time expired, putting the Cougars up 30-22. The Vikings could have been closer or even been in the lead if they had made more than 9 of 34 shots in the first half.

--Field Level Media