Jan. 19, 2012
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) -- Faisal Aden scored 33 points and Washington State beat Stanford 81-69 Thursday night.
The Cougars (10-8, 2-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and knocked the Cardinal (15-4, 5-2) out of first place in the conference on a night where hazardous weather kept the crowd at an announced 3,119.
Brock Motum added 16 points and Reggie Moore scored 13 for Washington State. The Cougars made 27 of 29 free throws, with Aden making all 13 of his attempts.
Josh Owens scored 19 points to lead Stanford and Chasson Randle added 15.
The game was the Cougars' first in Pullman since a Dec. 18 win over Western Oregon. They played two games designated as "home" games in Spokane--against Pac-12 rivals Oregon State and Oregon--and one in Seattle.
It's the only meeting between the schools this season due to the expansion of the conference.
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QUOTES
Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins
General thoughts on the game...
"I thought we mishandled some offensive possessions and had too many ill-advised shots at that point in the second half. Brock Motum made a couple big plays for them during their run to help chip away at the lead. Then, Faisal Aden got it going, and it was tough trying to stop him. He was on fire. The young man had a terrific night."
On Washington State's defense in second half...
"Josh (Owens) was playing well and we just didn't get him enough touches in the second half. Credit their defense a lot for that, too. They recognized we wanted to get Josh the ball, so they kept the paint congested and made it difficult for us to get the ball to him."
Stanford senior Josh Owens
On Stanford's second-half defensive breakdown...
"Faisal Aden got going. We weren't keeping the defensive pressure on him that we needed to after he started hitting a lot of shots. Our on-the-ball defense and driving lane defense were getting broken down, and they were getting easy shots inside the paint or close to the basket."