Wazzu emerges with tight victory over Boise State

Isaac Jones scored 21 points to lead Washington State to a 66-61 victory over Boise State on Thursday night in Spokane, Wash.

Myles Rice added 14 points and Jabe Mullins scored 13 as the Cougars (9-2) won for the seventh time in the past eight games. Andrej Jakimovski collected 13 rebounds for Washington State.

O'Mar Stanley, a junior, scored a career-high 23 points and also had six rebounds and a career-tying three blocked shots before fouling out for Boise State (8-4). Tyson Degenhart added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Chibuzo Agbo put up 10 points for the Broncos, who had a five-game winning streak end.

Boise State had a chance to tie the score, but Max Rice airballed a 3-point attempt with about nine seconds left.

Jones went to the line with 7.4 seconds remaining and made them both to give Washington State a five-point lead.

The Cougars shot 42.9 percent from the field, including 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Boise State made just 35.9 percent of its attempts and was 5 of 20 from behind the arc.

Jones converted a three-point play to give Washington State a 62-58 lead with 1:27 left. Agbo drilled a 3-pointer eight seconds later to pull the Broncos within one.

Kymany Houinsou made two free throws with 19.5 seconds remaining to put the Cougars ahead by three before the final sequence.

Boise State scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 35-33 lead on Degenhart's three-point play.

Washington State was back ahead by two before Max Rice drilled a 3-pointer to give the Broncos a 44-43 edge with 10:16 left.

Over two-plus minutes later, Myles Rice converted a three-point play to give the Cougars a 48-45 lead.

Boise State answered with a 9-2 burst that Stanley finished with a layup to give the Broncos a four-point lead with 5:31 remaining.

Washington State scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 59-56 edge with 3:03 left.

Jones had 12 points as Washington State led 33-27 at the half.

Boise State missed nine consecutive field-goal attempts during one stretch, and the Cougars capitalized with a 10-1 run to open up a 20-14 lead.

Degenhart drained a 3-pointer as Boise State moved within 28-27 with 1:28 remaining before Myles Rice buried a 3-pointer and Jones added a jumper as the Cougars took a six-point advantage into the break.