Oct. 25—SEATTLE — For the first time since 1917, the men's basketball teams from Washington State and Washington won't meet in the regular season. But the Cougars still got a shot at their bitter rivals in a preseason matchup, and made the most of it.
WSU topped UW 84-80 in an exhibition on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena — a preseason boost for a Cougars team that was coming off a 28-point exhibition loss at New Mexico on Oct. 18.
The 7,011 in attendance were treated to a free-throw shootout. The teams combined for 87 foul shots. WSU went 31 of 46 from the line and the Huskies shot 30 of 41 from the stripe. The teams both shot 22 of 56 from the field. WSU's 9-for-26 mark from 3-point range — compared to UW's 6-for-23 — gave the visitors the edge.
The Cougars trailed by 10 points midway through the first half, but used an 8-2 run to get back in it and took a 38-37 lead into halftime. The Huskies opened a seven-point lead about seven minutes into the second period before a Casey Jones 3 keyed a 13-2 WSU run that put the Cougars up by four.
WSU's Ronnie Harrison scored back-to-back buckets on a tip-in and a dunk with just over five minutes left to break a tie. The Cougars led by as many as eight points with under a minute left before a UW rally, but WSU got a game-winning block from Harrison on LeJuan Watts' game-tying 3-point attempt with six seconds left.
Harrison, a senior transfer forward from East Texas A&M, led the Cougs with 23 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 8 of 9 from the floor. Guard Lazerek Houston, a Central Missouri transfer, added 15 points. Oregon transfer guard Jamari Phillips chipped in 12 points. Providence transfer guard Jaylen Harrell scored 11 points and Jones, a former Eastern Washington standout, had 10 for the new-look Cougars, who had to entirely rebuild their roster this offseason.
Watts, a former WSU and EWU star who spent last season at Texas Tech, led the Huskies with 28 points, shooting 7 of 12 from the field and 12 of 13 from the foul line. Gonzaga transfer Steele Venters had three points for UW.
The Cougs open their regular season Nov. 2 at home against Davidson.
