SEATTLE — Jaylen Wells and Isaac Jones made the big shots to get Washington State into overtime then it was Myles Rice's turn to come through for the Cougars.
Jones scored 20 points including a dunk in the closing seconds of regulation that forced overtime, Rice scored five of his 18 points in the extra session, and Washington State rallied to beat Washington 90-87 on Saturday night.
Washington State (16-6, 7-4 Pac-12) won for the sixth time in seven games and continued to strengthen a resume that’s putting the Cougars into contention for a possible at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament.
“We've been in a lot of tight ones on the road so I just like the fact we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance,” Washington State coach Kyle Smith said.
Rice was scoreless in the second half before hitting a pair of free throws and a key 3-pointer with 1:50 left in overtime.
Wells added a career-high 19 points for the Cougars and Oscar Cluff scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
Wells hit a pair of important jumpers late in regulation for the Cougars. The second gave Washington State an 81-80 lead with 34 seconds left.
“That's kind of what you live for, what you play for,” Wells said. “That was amazing. That was probably one of my favorite games I've ever played.”
Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr. scored a career-high 35 points but missed an off-balance 3-point attempt with two seconds left in overtime that could have pulled the Huskies even. Brooks was 12-of-23 shooting and 11 of 13 at the free-throw line.
The 298th all-time meeting between the schools was the last in Seattle for the foreseeable future with both teams part of the same conference. Washington is off to the Big Ten next season, while Washington State will play in the West Coast Conference.
It was a classic that had Washington State fans chanting “Go Cougs,” during the postgame celebration. The game featured 14 ties, 24 lead changes and neither team led by more than five points in the second half or overtime.
“It wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't a lack of them wanting it more. It was a couple of plays here and there that you've got to be able to get to win these types of games,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said.
Washington’s Moses Wood missed the second of two free throws with 11 seconds left in regulation and Jones’ tying dunk with 4 seconds remaining sent the game to overtime. Washington (12-10, 4-7) failed to get a shot off before the buzzer.
Washington led by as many as 11 in the first half, but Washington State closed the half on an 18-3 run, including the final 13 points, to take a 44-40 lead at the break. Thanks largely to Brooks carrying the scoring lead, Washington built a 76-71 lead with 4:06 left after Wood hit his fifth 3-pointer. But the Huskies couldn’t hold the lead in the final moments.
Wood finished with 18 points and Sahvir Wheeler had 16 points.
UP NEXT
Washington State: at Oregon State next Thursday.
Washington: at Oregon next Thursday.