Sluggish Cougs Lose Ellison, Then Tumble At Southern Cal
Kevin Eastman never believed - not for 1 minute - that his Washington State men’s basketball team was as good as it looked last weekend in turning back nationally ranked California and Stanford at home.
But the first-year Cougars coach apparently failed to get his players to buy into such a reality, and it ended up costing them their early share of the Pacific-10 Conference lead.
In addition, the Cougars lost starting point guard Donminic Ellison indefinitely to a late-game knee injury.
“We came out with confidence that was not warranted,” Eastman said following Thursday night’s 85-76 loss to Southern California in front of an intimate Los Angeles Sports Arena crowd of only 2,622.
“Our guys came out cocky and Southern Cal came out with an attack mentality. That’s an easy story line because the attack mentality always wins.”
The Trojans took advantage of the Cougars’ nonchalant approach to build a 39-27 halftime lead and then turned things over to Lorenzo Orr, Washington State’s longtime nemesis.
Orr scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half by getting nearly every shot he threw up to go down.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and raised USC’s record to 2-1 in the Pac-10 and 6-7 overall. WSU slipped to 2-1 and 6-4 heading into a 1 p.m. Saturday game against No. 6-ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
“It was a gigantic game for us and our confidence,” said USC interim coach Charlie Parker, who took over when George Raveling resigned because of health reasons just prior to the start of the season.
“And to do it against an outstanding team like Washington State, which came in hot - it was just a big win in a lot of ways. I hope this establishes in our minds that we’re a solid team.”
The Trojans made things miserable for the Cougars with suffocating defensive pressure that started with Stais Boseman. Boseman, academically ineligible last semester, hounded Cougars scoring leader Isaac Fontaine all night and held him to 15 points while making five steals.
He also added 13 points as one of four Trojans in double figures. Freshman guard Cameron Murray scored 15 for USC and Jaha Wilson finished with 14.
Ellison, named the Pacific-10 Conference player of the week for his performances against Cal and Stanford, slipped on a wet spot on the court late in the game and injured his right knee.
The injury, according to Cougars trainer Dan Ruiz, will probably sideline Ellison for at least a week to 10 days.
Ruiz termed the injury a Grade One sprain of the medial collateral ligament, but added that there could also be some cartilage damage. Ellison was scheduled to undergo an MRI on the knee this afternoon.
If it shows cartilage damage, Ruiz said arthroscopic surgery might be needed. If so, Ellison could miss up to three weeks. And that thought certainly can’t do much to settle the concerns of Eastman, who watched his team lose all semblance of continuity after Ellison departed with 1:36 left.
Still, it was Orr, the Trojans’ physical - but awkward - senior forward, who made the difference down the stretch. During one 8-minute span, he scored 10 of USC’s 16 points to answer an early second-half WSU surge that had sliced the Trojans’ comfortable lead at intermission to 62-60.
And he capped his performance with a late-game block - the 117th of his career - that pushed him ahead of Rod Keller as the Trojans’ all-time leader in that category.
Orr’s off-balance shooting ability mystified Eastman, who admitted it looked like he kicked in a couple of the 11 field goals.
“I guess he’s hard to guard,” Eastman said reluctantly. “But when a guy is hot, you keep him from getting the ball, I think. I said that at every timeout, but I guess I didn’t say it loud enough.”
Mark Hendrickson, who led WSU with a game-high 26 points and seven rebounds, said Orr’s quickness makes him tough to stop. But he made it clear that the Cougars were their own worst enemy on this night.
“We played like crap. What else can you say?” he said. “We played like a bunch of over-confident guys who thought they were No. 1 in the nation, and we can’t afford to do that.
“But I think we’re going to have a real good (day today) and come back strong Saturday afternoon. I can guarantee it.”
Eastman said there is reason for optimism, based on the way WSU came back in the second half.
“It was embarrassment,” he said when asked what was behind his team’s attitude adjustment. “Hopefully, players will have pride, and I think our guys do. If you’re embarrassed like we were (in the first half), you put up or shut up.
“We just came out and played hard. We didn’t play smart, but we played hard.”
The Cougars received 21 points from Shamon Antrum, but lost the rebounding battle 37-31.
WSU will be without assistant coach Byron Samuel again when it plays UCLA. Samuel missed the Los Angeles trip to fly back to South Carolina to attend the funeral of his father, who passed away earlier in the week.
USC 85, Washington St. 76 WASHINGTON ST. (6-4)
Daniel 3-5 0-0 6, Hendrickson 12-16 1-2 26, Ellison 1-7 0-1 2, Antrum 5-10 7-8 21, Fontaine 6-13 2-3 15, Griffin 0-2 2-2 2, Mack 1-2 0-0 2, Vik 0-1 0-0 0, Corkrum 1-2 0-0 2, Warmenhoven 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 29-58 12-16 76.
SOUTHERN CAL (6-7)
Orr 11-17 2-3 24, Wilson 4-6 6-10 24, Murray 6-7 1-2 15, Harris 2-9 2-4 8, Boseman 5-9, 2-4 8, Crouse 1-2 1-2 3, Martin 4-8 14-23 85, Reuter 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 33-58 14-23 85.
Halftime-Southern Cal 39, Washington St. 27. 3-point goals-Washington St. 6-16 (Antrum 4-8, Fontaine 1-3, Hendrickson 1-1, Ellison 0-3, Griffin 0-1), Southern Cal 5-16 (Murray 2-3, Harris 2-8, Boseman 1-4, Martin 0-1). Fouled out- Fontaine, Boseman, Griffin. Rebounds-Washington St. 31 (Hendrickson 7), Southern Cal 37 (Wilson 9). Assists- Washington St. 17 (Ellison 6), Southern Cal 14 (Harris 6). Total fouls-Washington St. 23, Southern Cal 15. A-2,622.