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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Top scorers pace Cougs, Cardinal

PULLMAN – Both are about 6-foot-7. Both are products of Southern California’s fertile youth basketball culture. And both can put up points at an amazing rate.

This afternoon on Friel Court, Washington State University’s Klay Thompson, the Pac-10 Conference’s leading scorer at 22.7 points per game, will be wearing white. Stanford’s Landry Fields, No. 2 in scoring (21.8), will be wearing red.

And they both could be wearing out the scoreboard.

“They both can present a problem,” WSU coach Ken Bone said. “They are both just outstanding basketball players, to simplify things.”

Thompson, from Ladera Ranch, and Fields, from Long Beach, are Southern California kids who worked out together this summer.

“He’s a good kid, I like him a lot,” Thompson said. “He’s good. He’s athletic and he can shoot. He’s really complete.”

The workouts were aimed at polishing their games, as both knew they had to accept bigger roles in their respective offenses this season.

Fields, a senior, scored at a 12.6-points-per-game clip last season as seniors Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill carried the main load.

Thompson, a 12.5-points-per-game scorer as a freshman, deferred to seniors Taylor Rochestie and Aron Baynes.

“We lost four seniors from last year who contributed a lot,” Thompson said of the Cougars (12-5, 2-3 Pac-10). “We’re just young. For our teams to win, we’ve got to be aggressive.”

“Landry has had to carry the load for us this season and he has down a terrific job,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He has taken on the responsibility and I am proud of him.”

In conference play, Thompson and Fields have averaged 17.2 and 16.8 points per game, respectively.

With Fields and Thompson wearing targets, teammates have stepped up.

In Stanford’s case it’s sophomore guard Jeremy Green, who had 30 points against UCLA last week and is averaging 19.3 in Pac-10 play. WSU freshman Reggie Moore has contributed in a similar fashion, averaging 16.4 in conference, with a career-high 25 Thursday against California.

No matter what happens with the individual point totals today, Thompson has one overriding concern: not let Stanford improve on its 8-8 record, 2-2 in conference.

“The ‘W’ would be the biggest thing,” Thompson said. “Scoring 28 is real nice, but if they won and he only had 16 and we lost and I had 28, it would be horrible, so that ‘W’ is what’s important.”