National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Washington St. 65, Buffalo 54
When: 10:30 PM ET, Friday, December 21, 2012
Where: KeyArena, Seattle, Washington
Officials: # Frank Harvey, # Don McAllister, # Jeff Wooten
Attendance: 7269

Washington State 65, Buffalo 54:
DaVonte Lacy scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and the Cougars pulled away late to win the eighth-annual Cougar Hardwood Classic at Seattle's KeyArena.

Buffalo led 49-48 after Auraum Nuiriankh scored with 7:02 remaining, but the Bulls (4-8) were held without another field goal until Tony Watson’s layup with 58 seconds to play.

Brock Motum shook off a slow start and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds for Washington State (8-4), which drew clear with a 14-2 run during the Bulls’ six-minute field-goal drought. The Cougars won despite missing 11 of 24 free throws.

Watson hit four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points for Buffalo (4-7), which shot 21.4 percent in the second half after making 56 percent of its shots in the first half. Nuiriankh had 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

Both teams were 7-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half, which ended with Buffalo leading 37-35. Dexter Kernich-Drew had 10 points, including a key 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead 56-50 with 4:57 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Washington State improved to 8-0 all-time in the Cougar Hardwood Classic. … Buffalo was playing its first game without starting PG Jarod Oldham, who will miss the rest of the regular season with a wrist injury…. Washington State held Buffalo’s leading scorer, Javon McCrea, to two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Top Game Performances
 
Buffalo   Washington St.
Tony Watson 18 Scoring DaVonte Lacy 19
Javon McCrea 5 Assists Royce Woolridge 7
Auraum Nuiriankh 8 Rebounds D.J. Shelton 11
Auraum Nuiriankh 2 Free Throws Made Will DiIorio 4
Auraum Nuiriankh 2 Steals DaVonte Lacy 2
Javon McCrea 2 Blocks Junior Longrus 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Buffalo 54 37.0 9-21 5-10 15 30 7 2 13
Washington St. 65 43.8 10-20 13-24 14 32 5 4 7