LAS VEGAS (AP) — Washington State is on the verge of going somewhere it has never been, and the Cougars can do it in the final year of the current version of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Isaac Jones scored 16 points, and No. 22 Washington State beat Stanford 79-62 in the Pac-12 quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The Cougars had six players score in double figures and shot 50.8% (31 for 61) from the field. Myles Rice and Jaylen Wells each scored 14, and Andrej Jakimovski had 13.
Washington State has never played in the conference championship, and it is one win away.
“There will be a laundry list of accomplishments this team has had,” said Washington State’s Kyle Smith, the Pac-12 Coach of the Year. “Getting to the finals would be great. Obviously, our goal is to win it.”
Next up for the second-seeded Cougars (24-8) is Friday’s semifinal against third-seeded Colorado (23-9), which advanced with a 72-58 victory over Utah. This is just their fourth trip to the semis and first since 2008.
Stanford, which was seeded 10th, finished the season with a 14-18 record. The school announced after the game that it had fired coach Jerod Haase.
