The Washington State Cougars returned from finals break to put together another strong defensive performance to pull away from the UC Riverside Highlanders, 70-56, at Beasley Coliseum.
The Cougars improved to 6-4, while the Highlanders dropped to 7-4.
As has been the case for most of WSU’s wins this season, it was the defense that led the way; WSU held Riverside to just 0.84 points per possession thanks largely to 23 ghastly turnovers that were fueled by a whopping 11 steals.
Those live-ball turnovers were a catalyst for the offense, which had 16 fast break points on its way to a respectable 1.