WSU Basketball: Zags Roll in Second Half To Defeat Cougs 74-69

Washington State traveled up the road to Spokane tonight to take on rival Gonzaga. Coach Mark Few's team showed why they are the No. 16 ranked basketball team in the nation.

When the final buzzer sounded, a split second before, Xavier Thames had swished a long heave from just past the mid-court line and the scoreboard read: Gonzaga 74, WSU 69.

Coach Ken Bone saw his young team come out of the gate strong. The Cougs were up by 15 at the 2:09 mark of the first half; 35-20.

WSU played some smothering defense much of the opening half, looking very much like a team blending the best of both worlds.

Good, tough defense mixed with pushing the ball upcourt on offense.

Not only were the Cougs playing the No. 16 team in the country, this was their first contest against a team with the manpower to put a body on Klay Thompson. Klay came into the game leading the nation in scoring which put a target on his uni the entire game.

That's going to be the case every game from the point forward on the schedule until WSU gets consistent scoring from players other than Thompson.

"(Klay Thompson) didn't get very many good looks. Gonzaga did a good job of rotating guys. That's the way it is when we start up against Top 20 teams that have two or three guys his size or bigger than can guard him. They get physical with him and Klay did a great job keeping his composure and kept working hard. It's hard to get good looks when teams just take turns with fresh legs going after him." —WSU Coach Ken Bone

The second half was a see-saw battle between a couple of well coached teams.

It appeared things would get away from WSU early in the second half, but they steadied themselves and seemed to withstand the high energy the Bulldogs came out of the locker room with at halftime. Gonzaga cut the Cougar lead down into single digits around the 16-minute mark looking as though that fickle lady, Ms. Momentum, moved to their end of the court.

Instead of being taken out of their game and dispatched by Gonzaga, the young Cougs pushed the margin back up to a 12-point lead with about 10 minutes left in the game.

More importantly than the margin of the score, Washington State shocked the packed house of fans inside The Kennel. Sure, there was more noise than WSU players have heard since they were at home with the Zzu Crew, but the volume level wasn't cranked up to 10-plus until there was about four minutes left in the game.

When Elias Harris flushed the rock with about three minutes left and the score in favor of the Zags 65-64 the noise level of the crowd nearly blew the roof off the arena. Gonzaga's last lead was just minutes into the game at 9-7.

"I don’t think our kids have anything to hang their heads about. I thought they left it on the court. It’s not like they didn’t try in the last six or seven minutes. I could have done a better job also with some things. I’m trying to learn our guys. I probably should have got DeAngelo out a few more minutes so he was fresh down the stretch. I think he was fatigued and it showed up in a few different areas at both ends of the court." —Coach Bone

Coach Few's troops outscored WSU 23-9 down the stretch. That's what Top 25 teams do, especially on their home court.

Just as Gonzaga showed why they are a top ranked team, Washington State looked like a team coming off the Great Alaska Shootout where they won three games in four days.

"All in all, we did a good job. We’re going to get better and I think tonight we did get better. Playing this game tonight the way we did on their court, which is a difficult place to play, I think our guys got better tonight. That’s what it’s about. We want to peak at the right time, but not when it’s Dec. 2. It’s nice to win now, but it’s all about getting better." —Coach Bone

With the victory, Gonzaga moves to 6-1 on the season while Washington State shares the same record of 6-1, absorbing their first loss. Klay Thompson was held to just 15 points on 6-21 shooting. The young man from Ferris High School in Spokane, DeAngelo Casto, earned a second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The two freshman guards, Reggie Moore and Xavier Thames added 10 and 11 points respectively. Both Moore and Thames did a good job running the offense and harassing the Zags defensively. Senior Nikola Koprivica came off the bench and played one of his best games tonight scoring eight points while leading the team in assists with four.

"I definitely think we learned a lot tonight. I think we grew as a program. We’re really young but I think we took a good step toward the right direction. That’s really what it’s about. The season’s not over today it’s hopefully over in March." —Sophomore forward DeAngelo Casto

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Originally published in Lew Wright's column on Examiner.com

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