BOISE, Idaho — Marcus Shaver Jr. scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, Max Rice also scored 15 points to help Boise State beat Washington State 71-61 Saturday night at Idaho Central Arena.
Boise State (1-1) also beat Washington State 58-52 last season at the Spokane (Washington) Arena and is now 4-4 all-time against the Cougars.
TJ Bamba and Justin Powell hit back-to-back 3-pointers before Bamba made a layup to give Washington State an 8-0 lead about 3 minutes into the game. Rice scored the next five points and Tyson Degenhart hit a 3-pointer that capped an 11-0 run with 11:17 left in the first half and Boise State never again trailed.
Bamba led Washington State (1-1) with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Mouhamed Gueye added 12 points and Powell finished with 10.
The Cougars shot just 34.9% (22 of 63) from the field, including 6 of 26 (23.1%) from behind the arc.
Bamba hit his final 3 to make it 48-all with 8:48 to play but Shaver answered with a layup, Lukas Milner added a layup and an alley-oop dunk from Naje Smith — both following Washington State turnovers — before Milner found Smith for a layup that made it 56-48 with 5:36 left.
Degenhart added 14 points — including a conventional three-point play in the closing minutes that snapped a 6-0 run by the Cougars — for Boise State. Smith had 12 points and three blocks and Milner finished with 10 points.
UP NEXT
Washington State plays at Prairie View A&M on Tuesday
Boise State travels to Conway, South Carolina, for the Myrtle Beach Invitational and plays Charlotte in Thursday's first round.
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