Washington State guard Myles Rice, right, shoots against Southern California forward Vincent Iwuchukwu during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Isaiah Watts and Andrej Jakimovski scored 18 points each and Myles Rice added 16 to help No. 19 Washington State rally past Southern California, 75-72 on Thursday night.
The Cougars (22-7, 13-5 Pac-12) trailed by 12 points late in the first half and didn’t take their first lead until 2:35 remaining on a 3-pointer from Watts, his fifth of the game.
USC freshman Isaiah Collier scored 24 points, but missed a critical free throw with 23 seconds left that would have cut Washington State’s lead to two points.
Jaylen Wells then missed two free throws on the other end for Washington State and USC (11-17, 5-12) had one last chance to try and force overtime, but Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson missed 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
NO. 17 SAINT MARY’S 83, PEPPDERDINE 57
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Augustas Marciulionis had 17 points and 11 assists, Luke Barrett added 14 points and Saint Mary’s beat Pepperdine to win the West Coast Conference regular-season championship.
The Gaels (24-6, 15-0) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games in wrapping up their first outright regular-season championship since 2012. Saint Mary’s has one game left — at home against No. 23 Gonzaga on Saturday — to try to run the table in the conference.
The Gaels had a 22-2 run to build a 49-25 lead late in the first half. When the teams played two weeks ago in Moraga, Saint Mary’s won by 44 points.
Jevon Porter led Pepperdine (12-19, 5-11) with 22 points,
NO. 23 GONZAGA 86, SAN FRANCISCO 68
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Graham Ike scored 26 points and Gonzaga beat San Francisco to clinch a bye into the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament.
The Bulldogs (23-6, 13-2) won their 29th straight game against the Dons (22-8, 11-4) to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament behind No. 17 Saint Mary’s. The top two teams get byes to the semifinals meaning Gonzaga will need to win only two games in Las Vegas to win the conference tournament and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Southern California forward DJ Rodman, left, is defended by Washington State forward Jaylen Wells during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Nolan Hickman scored 22 points and Ryan Nembhard added 15 to help Gonzaga win its seventh straight game. Malik Thomas scored 23 points 14 for San Francisco in the game played at Chase Center.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
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