WSU Basketball | Cougs have record night against Portland State

Kennewick, WA - It's possible Coach Ken Bone would like to play every home game in the Toyota Center located about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Pullman. His Washington State men's basketball team rolled over Coach Bone's former team, Portland State by a final score of 93-68.

No question this game was the best outing  by the Cougs all season. Perhaps it was influenced by the end of finals, or the holiday break or just the steady improvement being made by this young WSU team.

Saturday night, you could say it was a Perfect Storm in Kennewick for Cougar basketball.

The game tonight was very close through much of  the first half.  Portland State Coach Tyler Geving had defensive clamps on the Cougs for the first 15 minutes of play. The Vikings were in the lead by a score of 24-22 with 5:55 left in the opening twenty minutes by keeping the pace of the game relatively slow.

PSU tried to take the air out of the ball by using most of the shot clock before attempting a field goal. That strategy was effective initially, but it took a physical toll on the Vikings. They began to run out of gas while the Cougs had plenty left in the tank.

WSU went on a 22-9 run to finish the first half and take control of the game. The offense came from a number of Cougs, but the assists were coming from freshman Reggie Moore. Moore turned in another amazing performance tonight dishing out a career-high 12 assists. Turnovers? Reggie committed exactly zero turnovers tonight.

In a conference known for outstanding players, only one guard in the Pac-10 has 10 or more assists this season. Yes, Reggie Moore is the man.

Washington State took control of the game by taking quality shots and knocking them down. The team shot a blistering 65.4% converting 17 of 26 attempts from the floor. They were 6 of 7 from three-point-land.

Whatever Coach Bone said to his team at halftime, it worked. The Cougs came out of the locker room and went for the knockout punch. With 11:39 left in the game, WSU led 65-44 when DeAngelo Casto put back a miss by Marcus Capers. The sold out crowd of 6,286 on hand in the Toyota Center erupted with Cougar spirit.

Once the Cougs had Portland State down for the count, they never let them back up.

For the third time this season, Washington State scored 90+ points. Chances are the WSU players are adapting to the up tempo play favored by Coach Bone quicker than Cougar Nation.

The only scare for Washington State the entire evening came at the 6:15 mark in the second half. Casto limped to the bench during a break in the action. That my friends was pretty scary. But the tables were turned when Casto came back out on the court. OK, that was pretty scary for the Vikings but Cougar Nation could collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

The number of benchmarks established tonight is impressive:

• Abe Lodwick scored a career-high 13 points
• Nikola Koprivica scored in double-figures for the first time this season
• Koprivica finished with a career-high 23 points.
• Koprivica made a career-high five 3-pointer, the first time he’s made more than two in a game
• For the second-consecutive game, Reggie Moore dished out double-digit assists, finishing with a career high 12
• As a team the Cougars had a season-high 25 assists.
• WSU set a school record shooting 81.3 % (13-for-16) from 3-point range

After the game, Coach Bone summed up his view of the game in just two words while chatting with Bud Nameck of the Cougar Radio Network.

"Very happy," Coach Bone beamed after the win over Portland State.

WSU was patient. Coach Bone focused his squad on taking care of the ball. The team responded by making 25 assists on just 33 baskets. Considering the high number of possessions, committing just 14 turnovers was acceptable to the head man for the Cougs.

PSU came into this game as one of the premier three-point shooting teams in the nation. Washington State rarely allowed any Viking an open look from beyond the arc. That was the plan and WSU executed it to near perfection.

Though Portland State had four players scoring in double-digits, only Dominic Waters had any success scoring against the high energy defense of the WSU. Waters finished with a team-high 19 points on 7-14 shooting.

Klay Thompson and Koprivica led the scoring for WSU with 23 points each. Casto put up some nice numbers with 12 boards, 9 points and 3 blocked shots in just 26 minutes of playing time.

Coach Bone was very pleased with the production from the number four slot on the front line. Abe Lodwick and Nikola Koprivica were sensational at both ends of the court:

"Both those kids did a great job. They played within themselves. It really helps when one of our four’s can shoot well. If they can just be a threat out there to shoot a decent percentage from three. That really plays a part in what we try to execute. " - WSU Coach Ken Bone

Coach Bone reserved his highest praise for the play of Reggie Moore:

"Here’s a guy, (Reggie Moore), who can obviously score some points. He’s our second leading scorer. He comes out and only takes four shots. That’s the exact type of point guard we want. A guy that wants to distribute the ball, and yet if we need him to score he can do it. He’s willing to do it."  - Coach Ken Bone

Great play, Great crowd. Great win.

Cougar basketball enjoyed a great night.

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