Washington State earned its first conference road win and in the process a season-sweep of Oregon State Thursday night in Corvallis.
Brock Motum was dominant again, scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 36 minutes of action. Motum did much of his damage in the second half as OSU abandoned their 1-3-1 zone in favor of man-to-man. The Beavers had no one to guard Brock one-on-one and he found easy looks.
This was an excellent game offensively for WSU. The key to beating Oregon State's defense is taking care of the basketball, and the Cougars certainly did that. They turned the ball over just 10 times and posted a 57 eFG%. Overall, the Cougs posted 83 points on about 67 possessions.
Jared Cunningham, the conference's leading scorer, had a stellar night for the Beavers but did not get much help. Cunningham put up 33 points on 10-20 shooting and 8-9 from the free throw line. The rest of team combined for 12-39 from the field and 11-14 from the line. The Beavers are not typically a team that relies on the three-pointer, but they took 28 attempts, hitting 10.
Reggie Moore struggled from the field, but was active in going to the basket and on defense. He had 11 assists, shot 8 free throws, and grabbed 4 steals. His final steal was an impressive takeaway from Cunningham as he attempted to rise up for a shot. Even though he went 2-11, this was one of Moore's best games of the season. D.J. Shelton took advantage of the attention given to Moore and Motum, as he pulled down 6 offensive rebounds and finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-5 shooting.
Sometimes there are just opponents that are good match-ups, and that seems to be the case with the Beavers. WSU has been able to limit turnovers against the 1-3-1 and do just enough on defense to come through with two wins. OSU also clearly has no answer for Motum, but who does right now?
The Cougs travel down to Eugene on Saturday to take on the Ducks at 3 pm Pacific Time.