Cougars winning, learning

PULLMAN – Ken Bone and the Washington State Cougars left for Alaska early last week with a 3-0 record and some questions.

They returned home Sunday with some answers and some hardware.

The Cougars raised their nonconference record to 6-0 by sweeping past host Alaska-Anchorage, Nicholls State and the University of San Diego, winning the Great Alaska Shootout for the first time.

And sophomore guard Klay Thompson, who scored 89 points in the tournament’s three games, including a tourney-record 43 in Saturday’s 93-56 championship-game victory over USD, also had to pack the Most Outstanding Player trophy.

WSU’s first-year coach, Ken Bone, was looking forward to the trip last week not only for the competition it would provide, but for the chance he would have to learn more about his team.

“I learned that, well, it’s still early in the season but I think our group of kids get along well together,” Bone said by phone while the team changed planes in Seattle. “They have fun, on and off the court. And yet, when it was time to compete, in a championship game, they brought it. There was no messing around, from the tip-off on, they were locked in mentally and did a great job.

“San Diego was the best team we’ve played so far, even though the score doesn’t indicate it. … For our guys to watch them beat Oklahoma, watch them beat Houston, then come out and do what they did, it was pretty impressive.”

Most impressive was Thompson, the 6-foot-6 wing who hit 16 of 24 shots, including 8 of 13 from beyond the arc to break the tournament single-game scoring record of 41 set by Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1993.

“He just lit it up,” Bone said. “He was outstanding. When he had a good look at the hoop, he shot it well. When he didn’t have a good look at the hoop, he shot it well.”

Thompson’s total was the third-best in school history, tying Guy Williams’ total against Idaho State in 1983. Only Brian Quinnett scored more for WSU in a game, getting 44 against USC in 1989 and 45 against Loyola-Marymount in 1986.

Thompson was joined on the all-tournament team by freshman point guard Reggie Moore, who had 16 points and five assists in the final, and sophomore post DeAngelo Casto, whom Bone praised for his unselfish play.

“Here’s a guy who’s proven to be a good post player and had a double-double the game before,” Bone said of Casto’s off- and on-ball screens, “and yet he was willing to give up part of his game to help us win and to continue to help Klay get points. I thought it was a pretty unselfish act.”

Bone and his staff taught this Cougar team one more thing this weekend.

“I think what they really learned is, if there is snow around, our coaching staff is ready to have a snowball fight against them,” Bone said. “We battled them and beat them, no matter what they say.”

Wednesday the Cougars will bus up U.S. Highway 195 for the annual battle against soon-to-be ranked Gonzaga, which won the Maui Invitational last week.

And Bone feels he’ll take a more-competitive team into McCarthey Athletic Center then he would have a week ago.

“It was a great week, we had a little fun and it worked out well,” he said. “We got better. That’s the bottom line, we got a little better.

“I don’t know if we’re good enough to compete with the Zags, but we’re getting better.”