The Washington State Cougars, playing without three potential starters, just keep winning basketball games.
If only the Cougars could get someone in Pullman to notice.
The Cougars stretched their winning streak to four games with a dominating performance against Santa Clara, but only 2,711 fans watched the 93-55 blowout Sunday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum.
The Cougars (6-4) are averaging less than half as many fans (3,440) as last season (7,143). Only USC (3,355) is drawing worse in the Pacific-12 Conference. The Utah Utes (1-8) average more than twice as many fans (8,432) as WSU.
Washington State coach Ken Bone said he’s “a little surprised” about the small crowds, but he added, “That’s out of our control. What is in our control is (to) take care of business on the court.
“I’m really proud of what our guys did there.”
The missing fans missed out on quite a performance by the home team. The Cougars shot a season-high 67 percent from the field (31-of- 46) and scored their most points in two years. Also, they held a deadly 3-point shooting team to a 3-for-15 effort from beyond the arc.
“I think we did a really good job of taking them out of what they wanted to do,” WSU forward Brock Motum said.
Motum and center Charlie Enquist dominated inside. Motum scored a career-high 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting, and he grabbed seven rebounds. Enquist went 7-for-7 from the field and notched 18 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double in three games.
Kevin Foster, the defending West Coast Conference scoring champion, paced Santa Clara (5-3) with 16 points and three steals. Foster led the nation in 3-pointers made and attempted last season, but he went 2-for-6 Sunday.
The Cougars have this week off for finals, then face NCAA Division II Western Oregon next Sunday at home (4:35 p.m., no TV). WSU closes pre-conference play Dec. 22 against Pepperdine at Seattle’s KeyArena.
PAC- 12 MEN
Allen Crabbe came off the bench to score 17 points, Jorge Gutierrez added seven points and 10 assists and California (8-2) pulled away in the second half to beat Jackson State, 73-46, in Berkeley, Calif.
PAC-12 WOMEN
Washington State’s Rosie Tarnowski scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds, and Ireti Amojo added 12 points to lead the Cougars (6-4) over UC Riverside, 74-35, in Pullman. … Arizona freshman center Aley Rhode collected her first collegiate double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the Wildcats (8-1) over Long Beach State, 66-42, in Tuscon. … Minus their leading scorer Amanda Johnson, Oregon (7-2) was held to a season-low in scoring by Denver, 89-65, in a road contest. Johnson injured her thumb on a rebound attempt and did not return in the second half.
NO. 21 MEMPHIS UPSET
Donte Poole hit a career-best six 3-pointers and scored 20 points to help Murray State (10-0) knock off No. 21 Memphis (5-3) to remain one of only nine teams in Division I that are still unbeaten.
BRAWL SUSPENSIONS
Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates got a six-game suspension for throwing punches at players for No. 8 Xavier, and seven other players were disciplined for their roles in a brawl that ended the annual crosstown rivalry game.
Four Bearcats and four Musketeers were disciplined. Three Cincinnati players got six-game suspensions, the longest of those handed out.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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