DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC

December 22-25, 2010

(Honolulu, Hawai’i) Game 1 of the Diamond Head Classic will see Mississippi State playing Washington State. Game time will be 10:00 a.m. HST on Wednesday December 22, 2010.

Game started at 10:05 a.m. HST.

WSU opened the game scoring on their first possession.

Definition of a bad foul – WSU #3 Reggie Moore is striped on his way up… MS #2 Ravern Johnson gets the ball and Moore grabs Johnson’s jersey. This while WSU has a three-point lead… and it’s not even four minutes into the game.

16:06 – goal-tending not called… but great looking block!

Teams going toe-to-toe quite nicely seven minutes in.

MS doing a great job leaving WSU shooters wide open for uncontested looks at the bucket.

WSU #1, Klay Thompson, and #11, Faisal Aden, are leading the charge with both driving to the hole and some good perimeter shooting.

WSU playing solid interior defense and forcing MS to poor outside shooting.

6:53 to go in the 1^st half – TV time-out – Cougs 27-23… the tone has been set by WSU but Mississippi is hanging tough.

MS came out of a timeout looking to pound inside…effective as they’re down 2 but at the line.

3:37 to go in the 1^st – another TV time-out – Cougs up 32-29. Inside game works for MS, guard play and the outside game works for WSU.

Thompson having his way for WSU – 2:23 to go in the 1^st and he’s already sitting on 17 points.

WSU #23, DeAngelo Casto is called for his 2^nd foul – he doesn’t like the call and promptly gets an early Christmas gift of a technical foul and a spot on the bench.

1:49 to go – MS Bulldogs take the lead, 35-34, on three foul shots thanks to Casto’s foul and “T”.

Teams trade leads in the final two minutes – Bulldogs hit a shot with less than 2 seconds left in the half to take the lead back at 40-39.

HALF-TIME – Thompson leads the way for WSU with 17, #24 Kodi Augustus has 13 for MS.

The tale-of-the-tape will be the fact in the 1^st half MS had 11 turnovers to WSU’s 5. WSU’s tragic foul-line shooting (4-10) is keeping MS (10-12 from the line) in the game.

2^nd half starts with the teams trading turnovers.

13:44 to go – Time-out MS – After the teams went back and fourth for the first few minutes, the Cougars went on a run led by Thompson and are now up 54-45 thanks to a 9-0 run.

MS with the miss – Aden with the board for WSU… Aden left open for a three and he’s money.

60-47 WSU – Aden with another trey.

11:29 to go – 60-49 – Augustus drops a deep two – TV time-out.

Right out of the time-out Thompson drops another three-pointer for WSU.

WSU is clearly the better team for the first 10 minutes of the 2^nd half.

MS with the turnover – WSU with the transition game and a monster dunk at the other end – strangely MS does not call a time-out to break the momentum. Is that the white towel being thrown in from the corner?

8:50 to go – WSU up 65-49

Another MS turnover – another WSU transition bucket.

Another MS turnover – another WSU transition bucket. And no, this is not a stutter.

7:17 – MS missed two from the charity stripe – WSU up 20 at 69-49

5:05 – Time-out WSU – MS playing like a defeated team.

A MS miss is followed by a WSU three.

3:13 to go – WSU up 75-49

Final score: WSU 83-57 MS

WSU: Klay Thompson – 28

Faisal Aden – 20

MS: Kodi Augustus – 19

Brian Bryant – 14