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WSU in Australia
Cougars fall to Brisbane Spartans in fourth game
Monday, Aug. 13, 2012
By Jessica Schmick, WSU Athletics
CARINA, Queensland – Brock Motum and Mike Ladd each put up a double-double, but it wasn’t enough as the Washington State University men’s basketball team fell to the Brisbane Spartans, 77-66, Monday at the Carina Basketball Stadium. The game was WSU’s fourth of a its five-game Australian tour.
Playing in front of a hometown crowd for the first time in a Washington State uniform, Brisbane-native Motum finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, having scored 20-plus points in each of WSU’s four games of the Australian tour. Ladd, who is averaging 8.3 boards in the four games, finished with a game-high 12 rebounds while adding 12 points. He was five-for-eight from the field and converted on one-of-two 3-point attempts.
Reggie Moore and Dexter Kernich-Drew were the other two Cougars in double figures. Moore finished with 10 points and six assists, while Kernich-Drew had 14 points, 12 of them in the first half.
Brisbane’s Scott Kenny led all scorers with 25 points as he was eight-for-20 from the field and four-for-10 from beyond three-point. His teammate, Izzy Tueta, added 24 points on nine-for-16 shooting from the field. Marques Whippy had a double-double of his own with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The two teams got off to an even start, exchanging leads in the early minutes. After trailing 17-12, the Cougars used an 8-0 run to lead 20-17 with 2:15 to go in the quarter. Led by 11 points from Kernich-Drew and 5 from Ladd, WSU led 24-18 at the end of the first quarter. Ladd added 5 rebounds in the first period.
Washington State scored just 11 points and had six turnovers in the second quarter to trail 39-33 at halftime. After the first 20 minutes of action, Kernich-Drew had 12 points while Motum and Ladd each had seve.
The Cougars pulled within two points in the third quarter, trailing 53-51 with just under two minutes to go. But the Spartans finished the quarter off with four unanswered points for a 57-51 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Motum scored 10 points in the period to tally 17 through 30 minutes of action.
Once again WSU knocked on the door of the Spartans, trailing by two, 57-55, with 8:35 to go in the game. But the Spartans once again held off the Cougar charge, outscoring their opponent 20-11 in those final eight-and-a-half minutes for the 77-66 victory.
Washington State is 2-2 and will close out its five-game tour against the NBL’s Cairns Taipans Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m. local time, 2:30 a.m. PT.
Visit http://www.wsucougars.com/ for updates on WSU athletics.
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