Washington State's Second-Half Rally Falls Short At Saint Mary's

Ace Glass finished with 24 points and ND Okafor was perfect from the floor in the second half in WSU's losing effort

Oct 25, 2025; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars guard Ace Glass Lll (21) controls the ball against the New Mexico Lobos in the second half at Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

The Washington State Cougars saw their winning streak snapped in Moraga, California on Saturday evening with an 88-82 loss to the Saint Mary's Gaels.

Saint Mary's had three different players score at-least 20 points, with Australian sophomore Joshua Dent leading all scorers with 26 points, including six made threes.

On the Cougs' side, Ace Glass scored 24 points to lead his side, along with six rebounds before fouling out. ND Okafor also added 14 points , making all six of his field goal attempts, with a team-high seven rebounds. Jerone Morton finished just shy of a double-double, scoring nine points with nine assists (a career high for the Morehead State transfer guard).

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In the first half, the two sides were even in many ways, but the difference-maker for the Gaels was their success from beyond the arc. Saint Mary's made nine three-pointers on 17 attempts, with Dent sinking four of those attempts - the same amount the whole of WSU's squad made in that time. Saint Mary's took a 50-38 lead into the halftime break.

WSU delivered a much-better second half, outscoring the opposition 44-38. The Cougars battled throughout the opening 13:34 to cut the lead to three points. Saint Mary's Mikey Lewis scored 16 points in the final six and a half minutes of the game to bolster his team's lead for the victory.

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"I think we were overthinking a little bit with our post coverages and we were giving up a lot of open threes and you know when you close out with with the understanding that anyone is a division one player they can make shots, that's when the guys miss and I think we were a little bit slow and lack [speed] of in our closeouts got them some comfortable threes and it's tough to beat St. Mary's when they make 14 threes and we just got to do a better job of playing with the right kind of energy, and also playing with the right kind of communication," head coach David Riley said postgame of his team's performance.

With the loss, WSU will fall to 8-10 on the season, with a 3-2 record in conference play.

The schedule does not get easier for the Cougars next week. They will host the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday, January 15 at 7 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Network.

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