Cougs start slow, beat Sac State

It’s early yet.

Let’s just say that and not worry too much about Thursday night’s lackluster performance by the Cougs. They won, beating Sacramento State 79-68 despite sleep-walking through the first half and not even scoring a field goal until the 14:03 mark in the first half.

After the tough match up with Gonzaga on Monday, Ken Bone’s Cougs looked like they were a bit hungover. Still, they did what they had to do and battled back behind Brock Motum’s career-high 23 points and eight rebounds.

Faisal Aden came off the bench with 18 points and five steals and DaVonte Lacy had his second-straight strong game with 15 points and five assists.

Again, this team seems to be looking for a leader and not having Abe Lodwick available due to injury isn’t helping. Still, Reggie Moore and Marcus Capers need to step up and give this team an identity. Of course, it’s early. This team is very different than a season ago in their approach and will need some time to gel.

The good news is that Motum is on fire, now shooting 67 percent from the field and averaging 20 points and eight rebounds a game. This isn’t really a surprise, but it’s something that is desperately needed. A surprise is the effectiveness of freshman guard DaVonte Lacy. The Curtis High product has made a serious impact in both games of the young season and is averaging 11 points per game, despite only averaging 14 minutes in the first two contests. What’s more impressive about Lacy is that he’s doing this with a surrounding cast of great shooters who have more experience than he does.

Now, the Cougs head to Portland on Sunday to face an always tough Pilot squad who is 2-1 on the season and coming off a 93-63 pasting courtesy of UW. Needless to say, start slow again and the Cougs will have a tough time coming back.

Here are some highlights and post-game comments:

Go Cougs!