Cougars Spoil Noah Williams' Palouse Return, Beat Huskies

The Noah Williams' Reunion Tour got off to a rough start even before he entered Saturday night's game in Pullman.

His University of Washington teammates rushed and missed their first 10 shots. They dropped behind 8-0. They went the first six and a half minutes without scoring a point.

Once Williams entered the game and played to a steady chorus of boos — in his first game back at Washington State since transferring from one of these state rivals to the other — the Huskies seemed to settle down some.

Ah, but any UW comfort level in the Palouse didn't last long as the Cougars showed up Williams and his new teammates and rode the catcalls to a 56-51 victory at Beasley Coliseum.

When the 6-foot-4 Williams came in the first time and got involved, the Huskies (13-13 overall, 5-10 Pac-12) rattled off an 11-0 burst that included a 3-pointer from him and took their only lead of the game at 11-10 with 9:55 left in the opening half.

That was it. The outcome remained in question thereafter, but the Cougars never totally let up. There would be no homecoming gifts for Williams and his new friends.

Sophomore Mouhamed Gueye and junior TJ Bamba took over WSU (11-15 overall, 6-9 Pac-12) and combined for 24 first-half points to put their team back in front 31-22 at intermission and ultimately on the way to the rivalry win.

The 6-foot-11 Gueye finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, for his 11th double-double of the season, while Bamba, a 6-foot-5 guard from the Bronx in New York, chipped in a game-high 20 points.

Gueye, an extra-active big man from Senegal, was particularly scary early on as he worked his way through the key for scoring opportunities. He launched a handful of mid-range jumpers and dropped in a lay-in before he set up behind the line at the top of the key and drained a howitzer-like 3-pointer that would have made any NBA scout sit up and take notice.

The UW lost its fourth consecutive game as coach Mike Hopkins' shaky job status turned even murkier with the season now down to five games on the schedule and the Pac-12 tournament. 

The Huskies looked clueless on offense, launching one off-target shot after another. They actually outshot WSU, 33.9 percent (19 of 56) to 29.3 (17 of 58), which was no consolation in this extremely sloppy game.

Williams, the sixth-year senior, topped the Huskies with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting while coming off the bench.

The Huskies continued to get physically beat up as they lost starting freshman guard Keyon Menifield temporarily to an injury right before the break when he ran into a Cougar defender and caught what appeared to be a knee in the face while chasing after a loose ball. 

Menifield didn't return to the bench until after several minutes were played in the second half and he didn't re-enter the game until just eight minutes were left.

With Menifield out, the Huskies turned to Williams again and he responded with three quick baskets in a 13-5 run to open play in the second half, pulling them within 37-35 at the 12:51 mark of the half.

The Cougars immediately went on a 10-2 run, building a cushion with the help of a pair of 3-pointers from Jabe Mullins, a 6-foot-6 shooter from Snoqualmie, Washington. 

With 4:39 left to play, Williams, who had early season knee surgery, tripped over 7-foot-1 teammate Braxton Meah and came up limping badly. The veteran guard briefly sat down before finishing up.

The UW was able to pull within 49-47 with 1:46 remaining but Gueye and Bamba combined for WSU's final seven points to put it away.

The Huskies have five days to regroup and next play at home against Oregon (15-11, 9-6) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

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