Ace Glass’s 24 Points Lead Cougars to 84-78 Win Over Mercer

PULLMAN, Wash. - Building a win streak going into WCC play, the Washington State Cougars defeated the Mercer Bears on Saturday, closing out their non-conference play on a strong note with an 84-78 victory at Beasley Coliseum.

Coming off a blowout win over Eastern Washington earlier in the week, Ace Glass led the charge with 24 points, helping Washington State fend off a pesky Mercer squad that kept things close late, ensuring the Cougars would roll into their conference schedule with much-needed momentum.

“It’s been great these two last wins,” Glass said after the game. “I feel like we are on a positive note before break and then we come back and try to keep that same momentum to finish the conference play out.”

From the opening tip, it was a neck and neck contest with the Cougars leaning on Glass putting the ball through the hoop as the freshman finished with eight made shots on 14 attempts from the field. Along with Glass, Eemeli Yalaho produced his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Despite only having three assists, Yalaho found success all game using his post-up skills to facilitate and manipulate the defense.

“For him to have three assists, he probably had five or six hockey assists where the guy made the extra pass out of that,” Cougars coach David Riley said of Yalaho.

Riley has raved about Yalaho’s basketball IQ, as he has seen it in practice and is now slowly starting to see it translate to game action on the court.

“When we put the ball in his hands, he makes the right passes,” Riley added. “He’s maybe early or he was one second too late on this stuff, then it was about half a second too slow where guys are open. He sees it, but he didn’t trust it to throw it and I think he’s down to let’s say 0.2 seconds a little too slow.

At half, Glass and Yalaho had combined for 26 points, but the Bears bench outscored the Cougars bench 16-3. In the second half, more Cougars started to find their shot outside of Glass and Yalaho. Despite not getting the start, Rihards Vavers stepped up and made the most of his role off the bench and came up big in the final 20 minutes with three triples that helped spark an 18-8 run that gave the Cougars a 68-54 advantage, with Riley calling scoring that balance a “key to our team.”

During their recent five-game losing streak, Riley mentioned how close he and his team were to turning the corner. After picking up two wins crucial wins before conference play, Riley and his guys like where the Cougars stand heading with WCC games set to begin next week.

“We got these two wins, we’re starting off conference with a little momentum. We do the right things these first few games, that story line can flip and these guys have worked their tails off. We showed who we can be and I’m just excited to take that next step with this group and I think this is the team that can do it.”