Washington State Men's Basketball narrowly missed upsetting the first-place Saint Mary's Gaels in a hard-fought game. Despite a strong first half and a late surge, the Cougars ultimately fell to the Gaels by five points.
Washington State came close to shaking up the West Coast Conference table on Saturday night, but couldn't finish the job. The Cougars dropped a five-point game to the first-place Saint Mary's Gaels. The Gaels end their first-ever trip to Pullman, Washington with an 80-75 victory. The Cougs led the entire first half, building an eight-point lead in the first four minutes of the game. That turned into a very back-and-forth game, which produced a 38-35 lead for WSU by the halftime whistle.
In the second half, Washington State grew their lead to nine, but the Gaels slowly chipped away at that lead until they took their own first lead of the game (55-54) with 9:29 remaining. St. Mary's did not relinquish that lead, as Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas combined for 17 points inside the final ten minutes. Murauskas finished with a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds. For WSU, Ethan Price put forth a strong performance, leading the Cougs in scoring with 20 points, thanks in-part to four makes from beyond the three-point line. As a team, WSU were just six-of-14 from deep. Dane Erikstrup and Nate Calmese also contributed 16 points each, with LeJuan Watts also chipping in 14 points and six assists. The Cougars fall to 15-7 on the year and their conference record falls to 5-4 this season. St. Mary's improve to 18-3 with a perfect 8-0 WCC record. Washington State return to action on Thursday, January 30, at Pacific. That matchup will be a rematch of WSU's 95-94 loss to the Tigers from earlier this month
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