PULLMAN — Noah Williams scored a career-high 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made several big plays down the stretch to help Washington State beat Eastern Washington 71-68 on Saturday night.
With the score tied at 63-63 late, Williams knifed into the lane for a layup and then hit two free throws to make it 67-63 with 1:08 to play. Jacob Davison sandwiched a layup and a 3-pointer around a dunk — assisted by Williams — by Volodymyr Markovetskyy to make it a one-point game at 69-68, but after Isaac Bonton missed a step-back jumper with 19 seconds left, Williams took a charge and Bonton capped the scoring with two free throws.
Tanner Groves led Eastern Washington (0-1) with a career-high-tying 17 points and nine rebounds, and Jacob Groves had career bests of 16 points and eight rebounds.
Washington State made just one of its first eight field-goal attempts while Groves hit two 3-pointers during a 16-3 opening spurt by EWU.
The Eagles had just seven scholarship players available as five EWU players missed the game due to the protocols surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
Bonton, who averaged 15.3 points last season and scored 28 in WSU’s season opener Wednesday, had 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting.
Seattle Univ. 3-0
LAS VEGAS — Riley Grigsby had 13 points to lead five Seattle University players in double figures as the Redhawks got past Air Force 63-45 on Sunday.
Darrion Trammell, Rip Economou and Aaron Nettles added 12 points apiece for the Redhawks (3-0). Kobe Williamson chipped in 11 points.
Glen McClintock had 11 points for the Falcons (1-1).
The Associated Press
