On a dandy night for those in diapers, an underclassman- laden Washington State team pulled away late to take an 87-68 win over a young UAA squad in Wednesday's opening game of the men's Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.
"We're still trying to find ourselves," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said.
Sophomore Klay Thompson led four Washington State players in double figures with 25 points, while UAA junior Brandon Walker led all players with 27 points. Walker went 5 for 8 from behind the 3-point line, and the Seawolves made 10 treys.
Washington State has one senior on its roster, while the Seawolves have none, and the game proved to be a showcase for young talent. Cougars freshman Reggie Moore finished with 17 points, while sophomores DeAngelo Casto and Marcus Capers each added 10. UAA got 14 points and four assists from junior transfer Drew Robinson.
Osborne said his team didn't do enough to slow down the Cougars' high-powered offense.
"You can't give up 87 points against a Pac-10 team and think you'll outscore them," he said.
The Seawolves tried to make things interesting late, cutting the lead to 69-61 on Walker's fourth 3 of the game with just more than five minutes remaining. But every time UAA inched to within striking distance, the Cougars answered, finishing on a 14-5 run to ice the game.
"We just ran out of gas," Osborne said.
UAA struggled with foul trouble early. Center Malcom Campbell picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and spent the remainder of the half on the bench, and guard Donnie Lao played four minutes after picking up a pair of quick fouls. Without two starters for most of the half, the Seawolves were never able to find their rhythm early.
"We were never able to get comfortable," Osborne said.
Washington State controlled the game early, thanks to a big advantage at the free throw line, where it went 11 for 18 in the first half compared to 5 for 5 for UAA.
UAA kept things close with five first-half 3-pointers, including a pair from Kevin White. But the Seawolves had no answer for Thompson, a scoring machine who entered averaging 27 points per game. Thompson led all scorers with 11 points at the break to give the Cougars a 36-28 lead.
Thompson said he was able to use his abilities as a scorer to help get open looks for his teammates.
"What's more important is I need to be a threat to score," he said.
Thompson didn't just do damage scoring. He also led all players with seven rebounds and four assists, drawing rave reviews from Washington State coach Ken Bone.
"When he's doing that, it's hard to stop our team," Bone said.
Washington State came charging out of the locker room, pushing its lead to 12 points on back-to-back highlight reel buckets from Capers. One of 15 underclassmen on the Cougars roster, he opened the half with a steal and two-handed dunk, then followed that with a nifty reverse lay-up.
Walker did his best to shoot the Seawolves back into the game, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to cut the lead to single digits. But the Cougars started to pull away midway through the second half, getting a deep 3 from Thompson to key a 9-1 run that put UAA in a hole too deep to escape.
Bone, whose team shot 51 percent from the field, said he was impressed with the Seawolves, who kept things close until the final Cougars' spurt.
"I think they'll have a good year," he said.
As for his 4-0 squad, Bone said he's excited to watch his young players continue to gain confidence.
"I really don't know how good we can be," he said.
Find Matt Tunseth at adn.com/contact/mtunseth or call 257-4335.
WASHINGTON STATE (87)
Casto 3-8 405 10, Thompson 9-18 4-5 25, Thames 0-0 0-0 0, Harthun 0-0 3-6 3, Lodwick 2-5 3-4 9, Capers 3-3 4-6 10, Moore 5-10 7-8 17, Koprivica 3-5 2-4 9, Motum 1-1 0-0 2, Bjornstad 0-1 0-0 0, Watson 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Enquist 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 27-53 27-38 87.
UAA (68)
C. Robinson 2-9 0-0 6, Campbell 2-6 3-6 7, K. White 2-6 0-0 6, D. Robinson 4-8 5-6 14, Walker 8-13 6-7 27, Arnott 0-0 0-0 0, S. White 0-0 0-0 0, Lao 1-6 2-2 4, Gibcus 2-5 0-0 4, Pacitti 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 16-21 68. Halftime score -- WSU 36, UAA 28.
Three-point goals -- WSU 6-15 (Thompson 3-5, Lodwick 2-4, Moore 0-2, Koprivica 1-3, Allen 0-1), UAA 10-25 (C. Robinson 2-7, K. White 2-5, D. Robinson 1-3, Walker 5-8, Lao 0-2. Total fouls -- WSU 21, UAA 28. Rebounds -- WSU 34 (Thompson 7), UAA 31 (Pacitti 5, Campbell 5, K. White 5, Walker 5). Assists -- WSU 15 (Thompson 4, Moore 4), UAA 16 (C. Robinson 4, D. Robinson 4). Turnovers -- WSU 9 (Moore 3), UAA 17 (Pacitti 5). Steals -- WSU 11 (Casto 3, Moore 3), UAA 3 (Gibcus 2). Blocked shots -- WSU 3 (Casto 2), UAA 2 (C. Robinson 1, Campbell 1). Fouled out -- Gibcus. Officials -- DG Nelson, Glen Mayberry, Bruce Corson.
WSU 36 51 -- 87
UAA 28 40 -- 68
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