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The Washington State Cougars had little trouble with the literal worst team in Division I, running the Delaware State Hornets off the floor, 80-52 on Saturday night.
The Hornets (1-5), ranked 353rd out of 353 teams in Division I by kenpom.com, shot just 28 percent overall, including 23 percent on 30 three-pointers, and could only get to the line six times. One of their starters took 19 shots and scored two points. Two.
The Cougars (3-1), meanwhile, did what they needed to. It wasn’t a spectacular offensive performance, by any means, but Robert Franks scored 24 efficient points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds. Point guard Ahmed Ali had his second consecutive nice game, scoring 17 points behind 3-of-7 from behind the arc, and Viont’e Daniels scored 11 on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc with a team-leading four assists.
The decisive run in the game came to start the second half. WSU led by just eight at halftime, but 19-5 run out of the break — fueled by eight points from Ali and six points from Franks — put to rest any notion Delaware State might have had of winning the game.
WSU will next be in action on Tuesday when the Cougars host kenpom.com No. 330 Cal State Northridge.