Cougs defeat the Eagles 75-49
Charlie Enquist played his best game ever at Saturday’s showdown against Eastern.Published 12/5/2011
Comments (0)It was the Charlie Enquist show Saturday at Friel Court as the redshirt senior had the game of his life in the Cougars' 75-49 thrashing of Eastern Washington University.
Enquist had his best night in a Cougar jersey, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds, in 31 minutes. All were career highs for Enquist as he recorded his first career double-double at WSU. Following the game, Head Coach Ken Bone was all smiles when expressing how proud he was of Enquist on his big night.
"It's always nice to see a guy get rewarded who is a very hard worker," Bone said. "He's a great team guy and you just like to see guys like that have good games and have success. We are really happy and as a team we pointed out what he had done in the locker room and everybody just started cheering for him."
As for Enquist, he was extremely humble after the game. Enquist was quick to give credit to his teammates putting the ball in the right place at the right time and said he is simply trying to get better each night.
"I'm pretty sure every point I scored was a dish from one of my teammates," Enquist said. "DaVonté, Reggie and even Brock would drive and my man would pick them up so I'd get to the hoop and finish. That's all I had to do."
Another positive for the Cougars was Moore's game, although he had a season-high nine turnovers. Coming into the night, Moore was averaging only 7.3 points per game, but he blew that number out of the water. Moore, who scored 11 points in the first half, finished with 15 points off 6-9 shooting including 2-3 from downtown.
What was most impressive about Moore's performance was his ability to shoot off the dribble. There were several instances where Moore would get the ball at the top of the key, drive into the lane and knock down a pull-up jumper. Moore displayed this nice move in the winding seconds of the first half as he put the Cougars up 41-25 going into half following an 18-footer.
With his ability to drive the lane, Moore became a distraction for Eagles defenders, especially in the first half. There were several instances when Moore penetrated the lane and an Eagle would slide over to help out. This led to some easy lay-ins, and Enquist was the main beneficiary of these plays.
"We asked Reggie today at shoot-around to be more assertive and look to score tonight and be aggressive to score," Bone said. "He said no problem, I'll do it."
Last but certainly not least was the performance of redshirt freshman Dexter Kernich-Drew, who saw increased minutes with Faisal Aden being ruled out due to a concussion. Kernich-Drew had a career-high 10 points in 22 minutes with nine of those points coming in the first half. Kernich-Drew had a tomahawk slam and a 4-point play in the first half that really energized not just the team but the fans in the stands, as well.
"We need that extra depth. We've talked about that since day one this year," Bone said. "Dexter, for one, showed tonight that maybe we can count on him a little bit more. We see it in practice but we have to see it in a game to really believe sometimes."
The Cougars will travel across the state border Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to take on the Idaho Vandals.
