Drake Bulldogs vs Washington St. Cougars Box Score on Mar 21, 2024

Isaac Jones recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds and Isaiah Watts made the go-ahead shot to help Washington State post a 66-61 victory over Drake in an East Region first-round contest on Thursday night at Omaha, Neb.

Jaylen Wells added 17 points and nine rebounds as the seventh-seeded Cougars (25-9) won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2008.

Atin Wright scored 20 points for the 10th-seeded Bulldogs (28-7). Tucker DeVries had 14 points and six assists and Darnell Brodie contributed 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Cougars face No. 2 seed Iowa State in Saturday's second round.

Watts drained a 3-pointer with 1:51 left to give the Cougars a 61-59 lead. Watts added two free throws to make it a four-point margin with 34.8 seconds remaining.

"That's who Isaiah is," said Washington State's Myles Rice. "He has a lot of guts to take shots like that. I have full faith in him. He brings energy for us and that's not the first time he's hit a shot like that. I'm just glad he hit it on the biggest stage."

Andrej Jakimovski made 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch as Washington State held on.

The Cougars shot 38.2 percent from the field, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs made 42.4 percent of their shots and were 5 of 15 from behind the arc.

Drake led by one point eight minutes into the second half before it increased its lead to eight with a 9-2 run.

Brodie made two free throws and Wright hit a jumper to account for a 54-46 lead with 7:47 left in the game.

"Felt we had a chance there and got a little cushion late in the game and just weren't able to close it out," said Drake coach Darian DeVries. "It's always tough to end your season. Today was a tough one. I thought our guys played extremely hard and left it all out there and unfortunately came up a little short."

Washington State answered with a 9-1 run with Wells hitting two free throws, Jakimovski draining a 3-pointer and Jones adding a basket to bring the Cougars within one with 5:15 remaining.

"We got down eight, we kept chipping away," said Washington State coach Kyle Smith. "We've kind of been that way all year. Drake is one of the toughest teams we played. We made plays when we needed to."

After Wright split two free throws for Drake, Jones made two free throws for Washington State to tie it at 55 with 4:28 remaining.

Kevin Overton followed with a 3-pointer to push the Bulldogs back ahead with 4:14 remaining before the Cougars closed strong.

Jones scored nine first-half points as Washington State led 33-29 at the break. DeVries and Wright tallied nine apiece in the half for Drake.

Overton and DeVries both hit treys during a 9-0 run that gave the Bulldogs a 19-15 lead with 9:41 left in the half. The Cougars answered with a 13-4 burst and Jones scored the final four points to give Washington State a 28-23 edge with 3:34 remaining.

DeVries' layup pulled Drake within 31-29 with 33 seconds left before Jones made the final basket of the half.

"It's kind of helpless," said Tucker DeVries. "There's nothing you can really do about it now. Just the amount of work you put in to get to this point. This is what you dream of to be on the big stage and play in the NCAA Tournament. For it to be over like this, it really hurts."

--Field Level Media