Utah Beats Washington State 77-70

PULLMAN — Justin Bibbins scored 24 points and Tyler Rawson added 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help Utah beat Washington State 77-70 on Saturday night. Utah (17-9, 9-6 Pac-12) used a 17-0 run — as the Cougars were scoreless for six-plus minutes — to make it 33-13 with nearly six minutes left in the first half before taking a 10-point lead into the break. Rawson, who hit six 3s and scored 22 points for the Utes in their last meeting with Washington State (10-16, 2-12 Pac-12), made 3 of 4 from 3-point range, scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first half on Saturday. The Utes scored the first seven second-half points and Utah held on from there. “We are understanding (that) when you play defense, you can be in a lot of games,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. WSU threatened several times, cutting its deficit to four with 2:13 to play after Viont’e Daniels hit back-to-back 3’s in a 30-second span.