Hardwood Apple Cup 2.0: Washington Huskies break through, beat Cougars for first time since 2019

Even without star attractions and leading scorers, Quade Green and Isaac Bonton, this win is big for the Washington Huskies.

With a lead throughout, the Huskies (4-16, 3-12 Pac-12) nearly blew it, though.

The Huskies gave the Cougars (12-10, 5-10 Pac-12) an opportunity to tie the game late — after botching a few trips to the free throw line — and they did. Noah Williams drove the length of the court and put a layup right through the basket to tie the game with 10 seconds to play, and time ticking away.

Enter Marcus Tsohonis. The sophomore guard, who started the game in Green’s stead, drove down the floor and put up the game-winning floater with 2.4 seconds to play to ice the game, and put WSU’s three-game win streak against UW to rest.

It was Tsohonis’ 29th point, a career-high.

“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s tough that they came in and beat us at home and last year and all that, but I’m just happy that we came out here and we didn’t think too deeply about the years before. We just came out there and knew we had to get it done on this day.”

Monday night’s win was a culmination of improvements the Huskies made over the last several weeks and after a double-digit loss to these same Cougars. But with Bonton and Green out, it was a whole new game for both sides, and UW took advantage of its shooting.

Washington knocked down 42% of its shots, and took advantage of 19 Washington State turnovers, turning those into 14 points in key moments. Though UW nearly blew the game down the stretch with suspect shooting from the charity stripe, Tsohonis came up big when it mattered most, and rectified head coach Mike Hopkins’ previously winless record against WSU head coach Kyle Smith.

“I’m happy that we got the W,” Tsohonis said. “I mean, the game winner is lovely, but I’m glad my guys were getting me open and finding me on cuts and catch and shoots. I give it all to them, that they were able to get me the ball today.”

His teammates indeed came up huge by winning plays down the stretch and throughout the game. Erik Stevenson scored 18 points, and dished out seven assists in a strong performance for the transfer guard. Though Hameir Wright struggled from the field, he was instrumental in UW’s defensive performance, notching two blocks and two steals, and the Huskies were a game-high plus-13 while he was on the floor.

“We set the tone,” Hopkins said. “We were focused and we were locked in defensively. That led to being in good position for us to try and make some plays. We took some charges, it was a part of the turnovers. Good position, forcing them to take end of shot clocks where you have to take them. So I would attest a lot of it to the defense. That’s just what it is, I was really happy about that.”

A win over WSU this year guarantees the Huskies will not allow back-to-back season sweeps by the Cougs, a stretch that dates over a decade. The last time WSU swept UW in back-to-back seasons was in 2007-2008, a feat Washington has accomplished four times since then.

For the Cougars, the absence of Bonton was immense. Washington State’s leading guard, averaging nearly 20 points per game, is the engine of it’s offense, and without him, it was an uphill battle all night.

Williams tied the game late, but shot just 2-of-9 from the field, and WSU made just six of their 21 three-point attempts in a poor shooting effort without its point guard.

That’s been a common theme for the Cougars. When Bonton is off the floor, they struggle, and they did Sunday on the offensive end throughout. Even defensively, they missed Bonton and several guards who could have stepped up to guard Tsohonis.

"He's a human heat check,” Smith said of Tsohonis. “He's really slithery, he's hard to get physical with, he doesn't really get contact and he can just really score. He's a guy, you don't want him to make his first shot, I assure you that. He did and he just kept it going."

Though it seemed like they had seized complete momentum in the Apple Cup series, they certainly didn’t play with any. Nineteen turnovers and abysmal three-point shooting numbers did the Cougars in.

Aljaz Kunc led Washington State with 14 points, followed by Dishon Jackson’s 13 and Williams’ 12. Williams also dished out seven assists in the loss.

Both squads will play at home next week in the friendly confines of their own arenas against the Bay schools. Washington will open the weekend against Stanford, and Washington State will open against California as the regular season dwindles down. The Cougars and Huskies are 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Pac-12 conference standings.