Cougars part ways with 3-game losing streak, man-handle Wildcats
Washington State picked up their first win in 16 days and finally snapped a 3-game losing streak with a blow out win over the Wildcats of Arizona Saturday Night thanks to a raucous home crowd at Friel Court in Pullman, Washington.
Nothing could stop the Cougs from snapping their 3-game losing streak Saturday Night. The boys in Crimson & Gray were knocking down shots from all over the court, dominating down low, and shutting down Nic Wise and the Wildcats on the other end.
Arizona took an early 12-4 lead capped off by a three-ball from Jamelle Horne. WSU than went on their own 12-4 run, tying it up at 16′s halfway into the first half. A back-and-forth struggle led to a 24-23 Washington State lead with three minutes remaining. Reggie Moore and the Cougs than got hot, grabbing the momentum and turning it into a 32-36 halftime lead.
The Cougs kept that momentum in the second half, jumping to a quick 38-26 lead in less than 2 and a half minutes. A Nic Wise three-pointer cut it back to five with 15:11 remaining in the game, but that’s the closest the ‘Cats ever came. Ken Bone and his Cougs ran away with it from there, rolling to a cool 78-60 victory over Arizona.
The W improved Washington State to 15-8 on the season and 5-6 in the Pac-Ten, a disappointing 7th place overall. ‘Zona dropped to 12-11 on the season and 6-5 in the conference, putting them amidst a five-way tie for second with Washington, Arizona State, USC, and UCLA.
Another battle was taking place outside of WSU vs UA, as well, as the race for Pac-Ten Freshman of the Year intensified between Cougar Reggie Moore and Wildcat Derrick Williams.
Countless times throughout the game, Moore could be seen taunting the Arizona bench after a big shot, waving his arms and pounding his chest.
Arizona got in on the action as well after Klay Thompson picked the ball away from Derrick Williams and drove to the basket for a fastbreak layup. Guard Kyle Fogg hit the dips and caught up to Klay, but instead of going for the ball, appeared to lunge at Thompson’s body, sending both players crashing to the floor. Fogg jumped right up, however, and jogged over to console Thompson; luckily, nothing escalated from Fogg’s hard flagrant foul.
Wazzu was led by Sophomore DeAngelo Casto, who put up a career-high 19 points, padded with 9 boards, 3 blocks, and 1 steal. The power forward-turned-center went 8-13 (another career-high in field goals made) from the field in 33 minutes of play.
Cougar Forward DeAngelo Casto got ripped and torn Saturday Night; it was all worth it however, as Casto went on to put up a career-high 19 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks en route to a 18-point Cougar victory.
Sophomore Guard Klay Thompson put up 14 points, 4 assists, and 1 steal in 33 minutes of play, capped off by a game-changing swat on Wildcat Nic Wise 12 minutes into the second half.
Fellow Guard Reggie Moore finished with 12 points in 34 minutes. The Freshman out of Seattle Prep added a career-high 6 boards, along with 3 assists, 2 steals, and a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe.
Freshman Forward Brock Motum finally got some love on isportsweb after he put on a show with a career-high 10 points in a career-high 17 minutes, as well as giving some key resting time to Forward DeAngelo Casto. This is the first time the youngster out of Brisbane, Australia has put up more than 5 points in a game or played more than 14 minutes (first game of the season against Mississippi Valley State U, Motum put up 5 points in 14 minutes). Motum has only played in 13 out of Washington State’s 23 games this season, as well. Auzzie Auzzie Auzzie!
Arizona was led by Freshman Derrick Williams, who presented his case on why he deserves Pac-Ten Freshman of the Year of Reggie Moore. Williams put up 16 points, collected 7 boards, grabbed 2 steals, and sent back 2 blocks. The 6’7 Forward out of La Mirada, California also went 7-13 from the field in 34 minutes of playing time.
Sophomore Guard Kyle Fogg added 13 points and 4 boards in 30 minutes, going 5-9 from the field and committing 4 fouls, one of them a flagrant.
Senior leader Nic Wise had an extremely off night for the Wildcats, finishing with merely 10 points, 2 assists, and 2 boards. The Guard from Houston, Texas went way below his average time-wise, playing in only 28 of the game’s 40 minutes.
Washington State will head down to Northern California for a quick two game road trip next Thursday and Saturday. The Cougs will face Stanford on Thursday, than head over to Berkeley to try and avenge a loss earlier in the season to the 1st place Cal Golden Bears on Saturday. –
Arizona will head home Thursday and Saturday of next week to take on Oregon and Oregon State, bringing up the rear in the Pac-Ten along with Stanford.
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