Cougars sweep competition at John Thompson Classic

MILWAUKEE – The only rookie mistake that Cougars coach Tony Bennett made over the weekend was that he didn’t bring three suits to the round-robin John Thompson Classic.

“Don’t have room to pack three suits,” he joked.

Bennett’s team completed its domination of the field by improving to 3-0 for the first time in 10 years with an 84-67 victory over Radford.

There wasn’t an official champion crowned at the John Thompson Classic, but the Cougars left no doubt who was the best team. They built double-digit leads by halftime of all three games in their best start since beginning 5-0 in 1996-97.

“I thought it was a good step for us in this three-game tournament,” said Bennett, who became the first rookie Cougars coach to win his first three games since Marv Harshman in 1958.

“I was pleased for the most part with how the guys played. You saw some depth from our team and there were some good moments.”

Derrick Low led a balanced attack with 14 points as the Cougars had seven players score at least nine points. They got a spark from backup point guard Taylor Rochestie, who made two 3-pointers in an 18-3 run that snapped a 14-14 tie. The Cougars never looked back.

After shooting 50 percent in Friday’s opener, the Cougars shot at least 60 percent in the last two games. The weekend offensive display produced three straight games over the 70-point mark for the Cougars for the first time since Feb. 22-March 6, 2003.

“I think in the three years I’ve been here, this is the first tournament actually we’ve played in,” Low said. “Three games in a row, you can get fatigued. But I just think we played well and stuck to our goal of trying to come out and win.”

Kyle Weaver turned in his best effort of the tournament in his return to Wisconsin with 12 points and six first-half assists. Ivory Clark added 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds.

“It was fun, I enjoyed it,” said Weaver, a native of Beloit. “It was good to come out 3-0 and see all the family and friends.”

Radford committed 18 turnovers in its first game against a Pac-10 opponent. It began a tough season for coach Byron Samuels after the former Cougars assistant announced last week that he would resign after this season.

“I wished him very well, having been an assistant at Washington State,” said Samuels about Bennett. “I still have fond memories from being out there.”

The only bad news came when reserve forward Daven Harmeling was lost to a sprained right ankle with 4:06 remaining in the first half. His status is uncertain for the home opener Friday against Texas-San Antonio.