PULLMAN — Andrej Jakimovski scored a season-high 17 points, DJ Rodman added 15 and the Washington State men’s basketball team held off Stanford 60-59 on Saturday night.
Jakimovski, who missed the first 10 games because of a foot injury, was 6 of 8 from the field and matched his career best with five three-pointers while playing a season-high 31 minutes. Fellow forward Rodman added four threes for WSU (9-10, 4-4 Pac-12), which has won four of its last five.
“They bailed us out, big time,” Cougars coach Kyle Smith said of the forwards. “It’s really rewarding to see Andrej and Rodman really step up and get us a [win]. That’s what older guys do, they win at home.”
TJ Bamba, WSU’s leading scorer, missed his second straight game because of a hand injury.
Rodman’s three gave the Cougars a 60-55 lead with 2:05 to play. He has scored in double figures in six straight games.
The Cardinal’s Spencer Jones made a jumper, and 7-foot-1 Maxime Raynaud’s layup capped the scoring with 22 seconds left.
Jakimovski missed a free throw on the next possession, but Stanford’s Harrison Ingram missed a jumper. Then Raynaud’s three-point try was an air ball that virtually became a lob pass, but teammate Brandon Angel couldn’t convert and time expired.
“They didn’t tip it in at the end and I was very thankful that didn’t happen,” Smith said.
Raynaud scored 16 points to lead Stanford (5-12, 0-7). Ingram and Jones each finished with 14 points.
Ingram made 6 of 10 shots with a pair of threes for the Cardinal in the first half as they built a 34-31 lead at halftime. The Cougars opened the second half on a 9-5 run, capped by a Jakimovski three-pointer, for a 40-39 lead with 14:05 to play and led the rest of the way.
WSU entered the game averaging 8.9 three-pointers, more than any team in the Pac-12. Against Stanford, the Cougars were 10 of 27 on three-pointers, compared with 7 of 18 for the Cardinal.