PULLMAN – The sports teams of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne are called the Mastodons, a species of giant mammals that roamed North America until apparently becoming extinct when temperatures warmed at the end of the Ice Age.

A few thousand years later, Klay Thompson proved that Mastodons still fade away when things get a bit toasty.

A sizzling Thompson buried his first five shots, scored 22 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 37 as Washington State torched the Mastodons, 89-70, in a nonconference men’s basketball game Thursday night at Friel Court.

“I felt I was in his face a lot,” IPFW junior guard Zach Plackemeier said. “He was just hitting everything.”

Thompson, the super soph from Orange County, Calif., sank 15 of 20 field-goal attempts and all five of his free throws. He scored from everywhere and hit from deep all night, even though the accomplished 3-point shooter attempted only three treys and made two.

IPWF coach Dane Fife said he had no complaints about Plackemeier’s defense on Thompson.

“I told Zach, ‘If we played Washington State again tomorrow, you’d be right back on Klay Thompson. I’ve got that much faith in you, but you’re guarding a (future NBA) first-rounder.

“‘Welcome to the NBA, kid.’”

The 37 points ties for 10th in Cougars history. Thompson might have taken a run at Brian Quinnett’s 1989 school record of 45 points, but the Cougars held comfortable leads almost all the way, so Thompson was rested periodically and only played 29 minutes.

“Boy, when he shot it, it seemed like the hoop was about 5 feet in diameter,” WSU coach Ken Bone said. “We just knew it was going in. I think he did, too.”

“It was fun,” Thompson said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates, because they got me in rhythm and they got me the ball when I was open.

“And most important, we got the win.”

The Cougars (3-0) led the Mastodons (1-2) 44-31 at the half, then piled it on until they led by 27 with 5 minutes left.

Thompson was the only Cougars player to score more than nine points, but WSU shot 54 percent from the field, 47 percent on 3s and 86 percent at the free-throw line.

Senior post Deilvez Yearby led IPFW, a Summit League team, with 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds. The Cougars beat the Mastodons across the board on the stats sheet before 5,399 fans.

The Cougars return to action next Wednesday when they face host Alaska-Anchorage (2-0) in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout. IPFW visits Gonzaga tonight at 6 (FSN).

Fastbreaks

Fife, 30, is the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. He was 25 when he was hired. ... The Cougars are 37-0 all-time in November at Friel. ... Fife, a guard for Bob Knight at Indiana, was the Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year on the Hoosiers’ Final Four team in 2001-02. “I was known as a defensive player, but I don’t know of many guys who could have stopped Klay Thompson tonight,” Fife said. ... Thompson’s previous career high was 28 points at Arizona State last January.