WSU Basketball:Young Cougs continue to do well on world stage

Washington State sophomores DeAngelo Casto and Klay Thompson helped the USA Team score a second win in the FIBA U19 World Championship tournament. The victory this time around was over France by a score of 71-55.

USA Team Coach Jamie Dixon was able to rotate players in and out of the game once again. He also went with a completely different starting five, displaying the depth and talent of his squad.

Casto was on the floor for just 12 minutes, but made the most of his playing time. The young man from Spokane was 2-3 from the field and knocked down a pair of free throws. Once again the high energy game of Casto resulted in successfully crashing the boards. He brought down 5 rebounds and blocked two shots. DeAngelo even dished off an assist.

Thompson was on the floor a little longer than his Cougar teammate Casto, getting 19 minutes of playing time.  Klay was 2-5 from the floor shooting and showed off his basketball IQ by grabbing 4 rebounds to go along with his 4 points. He also found open teammates for a pair of assists.

Ashton Gibbs of Pittsburgh was the only USA player to log more than 20 minutes of playing time. Coach Dixon let him play through a tough shooting night for 26 minutes. The 6'2" guard was just 3-14 from the field which is uncharacteristic of the talented sophomore Panther.

Next up for the USA Team is Egypt. They will play either Friday at 4pm PDT or 11am Saturday NZDT. It's the date line thing causing the confusion, not the actual tip off. For most of us that means Friday afternoon.

The other Coug playing in the FIBA U19 World Championships is Brock Motum of Brisbane, Australia. Motum has yet to officially set foot on campus in Pullman. The way he's playing for the Australia national team, Coach Ken Bone has to be itching to get him suited up for practice.

Motum scored 14 points in Australia's win over Spain, 69-62. He was the second leading scorer on the team for the second consecutive game. Continuing his hot shooting, Motum was 7-12 from the field and grabbed 6 rebounds as well. His quick hands and heady play accounted for a steal and a dose of frustration for his opponents.

Team Australia will be playing their next game at the same time the USA Team is. The Aussies will take on the team from Syria.

Check back tomorrow for the results turned in by the Cougar trio of Casto, Motum and Thompson.

For ticket information check out wsucougars.com or call 1-800-GO-COUGS.