WSU Basketball:Motum, Casto and Thompson contribute to undefeated run

Three Washington State Cougars continue their solid play in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Championship tournament being playing in Auckland, New Zealand.

Incoming freshman Brock Motum has been outstanding for the Australian team. Though he's logged just an average of 21 minutes a game, Motum overall ranks 12th in scoring in tournament play. Motum is averaging 16.5 points a game on 65.5% shooting from the field. 

WSU Coach Ken Bone must be pleased to see that the young man is the top scoring forward in the tournament, leading his team to a perfect record of 4-0 after their most recent victory over Kazakhstan 87-54. Motum poured in 17 points in just 14 minutes of playing time.

DeAngelo Casto and Klay Thompson saw their playing time limited in the latest win by the USA Team over a talented team from Greece. The game was the first real test for the Americans which was reflected in the final score: USA 85 - Greece 69

Casto scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting from the floor and 2-4 from the free throw line. Continuing his high energy play, DeAngelo pulled down 5 rebounds. He put up those stats in just 14 minutes of playing time.

In just 11 minutes of time on the floor, Thompson made his only shot and was 1-2 from the charity stripe to chip in 3 points for the game. Klay grabbed 3 rebounds and dished out 3 assists along with a steal.

So why did these two Cougs see limited playing time?

Both Casto and Thompson had the attention of the officials as they both picked up 4 fouls in very short order.

Next up for the USA Team is Puerto Rico Tuesday, July 7th at 7:30pm NZDT.

Puerto Rico has been putting up some big scores in tournament play. They are averaging over 90 points a game, so this match up may become a shoot out. Puerto Rico is 3-1 thus far, their only loss coming at the hands of Greece. That contest was won in the fourth quarter by the young men from Greece when they poured in 28 points. The final score at the end of regulation play was 107-98.

Brock Motum and his mates from Australia will be playing in an earlier game on Tuesday at 1:30pm NZDT. They will take on the boys from Argentina who are 3-1, looking to hand the Aussies their first loss.

Check back again to keep up on the Cougar trio of Casto, Motum and Thompson.

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