Wesley Yates III scored a season-high 26 points and Washington held on to defeat Washington State 81-69 in the basketball version of the Apple Cup on Friday night in Pullman, Wash.
Zoom Diallo added 20 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Huskies (3-1) in the 301st meeting between the schools. Hannes Steinbach had his third straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Quimari Peterson tallied 10 points.
Eemeli Yalaho scored 15 points for the Cougars (1-3), who took their third consecutive loss in the series. Ace Glass scored 12 points, and Emmanuel Ugbo added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Huskies shot 48.2% from the field (27 of 56), including 9 of 26 (34.6%) from beyond the 3-point arc. Yates made four treys after converting just three attempts from long range in the first three games of the season combined.
The Cougars shot 26 of 62 (41.9%) from the field and were 9 of 31 (29 percent) from long distance.
The Huskies built a 44-30 halftime lead as Yates scored 15 points and made three 3-pointers, including one at the buzzer.
Washington State took an early 7-4 lead before Steinbach sparked a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer.
After the Cougars’ Yalaho scored on an offensive rebound, Peterson made a pair of 3-pointers around a Yates a fastbreak dunk in an 8-0 run to make it 19-9.
Washington State responded with a 12-4 surge — with Parker Gerrits and Simon Hildebrandt connecting from long range — to pull within 23-21.
A three-point play and a layup off an offensive rebound, both by Steinbach, gave the Huskies a 28-21 advantage.
Washington scored the final six points before the intermission to take their largest lead of the half.
The Huskies extended the margin to 63-41 with 11:13 remaining on a driving layup by Yates.
A 9-0 run pulled the Cougars within 63-50. A driving layup by Jerone Morton got Washington State within single digits with 5:57 left, but the hosts were unable to get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
