WSU Basketball:Motum and Thompson contribute to FIBA U19 wins

The Washington State Cougars participating in the FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand asserted themselves proudly once again.

Klay Thompson played a key role in the USA Team victory over a talented team from Puerto Rico. USA Coach Jamie Dixon came up with a defensive scheme that stifled the offense of Puerto Rico. That is something no other opponent has been able to do in the tournament.

Against a team that was averaging over 90 points a game, USA came away with a 82-61 win.

Coach Dixon's strategy was simple. Force Puerto Rico to go inside and take away their outside shot. Simple but effective.

USA was able to completely shut down frustrated Puerto Rico in the second quarter, holding them to just six points. 

The outside pressure employed by Coach Dixon seemed to have taken his players out of rhythm on the offensive end of the court. While holding down Puerto Rico to 33.3% shooting, USA managed to convert just 36.5% of their shots from the floor.

Thompson stayed away from the foul trouble that plagued him in the previous game. He was on the floor for 24 minutes and put up some nice stats. The Cougar sophomore tallied 9 points on 3-6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. Add to that 6 rebounds and 2 assists for an all-around strong performance.

Typical of Thompson, he knocked down a 3-pointer to begin the scoring for USA.  Cougar basketball fans are quite familiar with seeing Washington State begin their games last season in the same fashion. The young man from Ladera Ranch, Calif., likes to have the ball in his hands with an open shot to begin every game. 

Unfortunately DeAngelo Casto had to sit out with a sore knee. No telling how many blocked shots the young man from Spokane might have recorded given the style of defense employed by the USA Team. Casto is listed as day-to-day by USA Basketball.

The other Coug tearing it up in New Zealand is incoming freshman Brock Motum. He turned in another great game for the Australian team as they defeated the team from Argentina 76-65.

Motum was one of three Aussies that put 16 points up on the scoreboard to lead their team. He was in sharp-shooting mode once again going 5-9 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. Brock grabbed a total of 5 rebounds, 4 of them coming off the offensive glass.

The USA U19 Team is now a No. 1 seed for the second round of play, regardless of the outcome of their next game against Lithuania. Tip off for that contest with be at 7:30pm NZDT July 8th. Lithuania is 3-2 in tournament play after being upset by France 95-78. If USA has an off-night shooting, they will find themselves in a tough game because Lithuania has plenty of offensive talent.

Australia will be playing in the game preceding USA - Lithuania. The Aussies will face Croatia. They will have their hands full as Croatia is one of the undefeated teams in the tournament. Both teams have been averaging well over 80 points a game so it will come down to who wants to play some defense.

Our coverage of Thompson, Motum and Casto in the FIBA U19 World Championship will continue tomorrow.

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