Career nights from Gueye, Abogidi power Washington State to 78-70 win over Washington
Mouhamed Gueye and Efe Abogidi dominated on the interior for Washington State Thursday night at home against Washington, and the Cougars closed strong to earn a 78-70 victory of their Apple Cup rivals.
Both Gueye, the 6-foot-11 freshman big man, and Abogidi set new career-highs for scoring in the contest. Gueye put up 25 points, showing aggression around the basket all throughout the game. He took 11 shots in the first half and then 12 in the second, shattering his previous career-high for attempts in a game.
Abogidi had a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double on a near-perfect night of shooting. He was 7-for-9 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the foul line. Michael Flowers was the only other Cougar to reach double-figures scoring, but with the frontcourt duo of Gueye and Abogidi rolling, WSU didn’t need much else; just those two scored more than half of the Cougar points.
And they did it with relative ease. Washington had no answer for the pair, specifically Gueye, who was able to elevate over Washington all night long to knock down shots.
Then on the other end, they did well to make life tough for Washington’s star scoring guard, Terrell Brown Jr., who was limited to just 11 points on 13 shot attempts. He only took two shots from the foul line and turned it over four times (though he also finished with eight assists).
Things were all square at 33-33 entering the halftime break, but the Cougars came out red-hot to open the second half. They used a 13-1 run to open up a 12-point lead while hitting five of their first eight shots.
With help from UW guard PJ Fuller, who scored 17 of his team-leading 23 in the second half, Washington was able to methodically chip away at the Cougar lead. Where the Cougars did damage inside, Washington used the 3-ball to stay within striking distance.
Every time Washington got within a score of either tying or taking the lead, Washington State had an answer inside at the other end. And then with 2:31 to play, a Fuller layup on the break to bring the Huskies within just a point proved to be UW’s last shot.
Washington State closed the game on a 7-0 run with a dunk and five free throws. Washington missed its last five shots.
The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Cougars (15-12, 8-8 Pac-12), who will play Washington (13-13, 8-8 Pac-12) once more on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT in Seattle.