Gauchos no match for Pac-12 school Washington State

PULLMAN, Washington. - Efe Abogidi scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots as Washington State took a commanding lead in the first half and cruised to a 73-65 win over UC Santa Barbara on Monday night.

The Cougars took a 41-25 lead at the half and Abogidi's dunk with 2:45 left gave them a 71-56 lead.

Abogidiu hit 6 of 7 from the field, was 6 of 7 from the free throw line and his six blocked shots was the most by a Cougar since 2016. Noah Williams added 13 points and Tyrell Roberts and Michael Flowers each added 11 points. Washington State (3-0) was 28 of 61 from the field (45.9 percent) but just 2 of 16 from long range.

The Gauchos, an NCAA tournament team a year ago, got 25 points and 11 rebounds from Amadou Sow. Ajare Sanni hit just 4 of his 17 shots and added 12 points. UC Santa Barbara hit 23 of 59 shots from the floor (39 percent), including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.

{Article courtesy of the Associate Press}