Huskies Chew Up Cougars, 85-71 Washington State Plays Uninspired In Ellison’s Return

Donminic Ellison stepped out of Coach Kevin Eastman’s doghouse Sunday afternoon - just in time to be rudely shoved back in by teammates stampeding through the door.

Washington State’s point guard returned after serving a two-game academic suspension imposed by Eastman, but proved to be a non-factor in an uninspired 85-71 loss to arch-rival Washington in front of a sellout crowd of 7,900 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Afterward, Ellison and the rest of the team spent what must have seemed like an eternity huddled in their closed locker room with their angry, exasperated and deeply disappointed head coach.

Eastman, after watching his team come out flat, fall behind big by halftime and make no serious threat at a second-half comeback, skipped his post-game radio show and kept reporters waiting almost an hour before finally emerging to comment publicly on one of WSU’s worst efforts in recent memory.

“We came out lackluster, and that just shouldn’t be,” he said of the loss, which dropped the Cougars to 1-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference and 8-5 overall.

Eastman refused to detail his lengthy post-game sermon, but said its main theme was commitment.

“It’s something that has to be discussed among ourselves,” he said. “I wasn’t yelling, I wasn’t screaming, because our team doesn’t need that right now. But we do have to become accountable, and that’s what we talked about - accountability.”

The Cougars didn’t account for much Sunday, especially on the defensive end of the floor, where they let UW launch a lethal barrage of uncontested 3-pointers.

The Huskies (10-4, 3-2) took advantage of the lack of defensive pressure on the perimeter to bury a record 10 of 13 shots from beyond the 3-point line.

They got a couple of 3-pointers and 27 points from sophomore forward Mark Sanford and 15 points from 7-foot freshman center Todd MacCulloch. They shot 53.9 percent (35 of 65) from the field and defended with the kind of tenacity that was once a WSU trademark.

UW’s margin of victory was the largest against the Cougars since a 79-65 home win in 1987 and it’s 41-25 halftime lead equalled its previous season best against Lehigh.

“That was probably a better performance than we had against USC (in a 94-72 win) - just a very, very good game all around,” Husky coach Bob Bender said. “We played a very hungry basketball game and we played a very well-executed game on both ends.”

UW guard Jason Hamilton, who finished with 10 points and made both of the 3-pointers he tried, called it a “great day for us, because we dominated.

“When it counted, we were strong with the ball, we posted up, we didn’t foul, we shot the ball well - we did almost everything you’d want us to do.

The Huskies used seven of WSU’s 21 turnovers to fuel a 20-5 run in the final eight minutes of the first half. The game was decided during that stretch with Sanford scoring UW’s final seven points of the half - two on a breakaway dunk that further energized an already spirited pro-Husky crowd.

Bender grabbed the public address announcer’s microphone after the game and thanked the vocal crowd, saying, “This is what this can all be about. We need your help Thursday (against Stanford), too.”

Isaac Fontaine, who scored 25 points for WSU, said he was not surprised by the Huskies’ hot shooting and intense defense, which limited Cougar shooting guard Shamon Antrum to three points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field.

“When you’re at home and the crowd starts cheering and a basket goes down and you get on a roll, all of (your shots) seem to go down - that’s the way it is in any home arena,” he explained. “It seems like every time you throw something up, it goes in. And that was the case today.”

“I’m sure they didn’t know they were 10-for-13 (on 3-pointers). I’m sure they just said, ‘I’m shooting well, so I’m going to keep shooting,’ and that’s exactly what they did. They kept shooting and they kept making them.”

WSU, which also got 16 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore forward Carlos Daniel, competed better in the second half, but did not make an unanswered bucket until putting together a modest 6-point run with 10 minutes remaining.

The Cougars, who did not get to the foul line in the first half, were down 77-53 late in the game, but made the final score respectable by hitting eight consecutive free throws and outscoring UW 18-8 in the final five minutes.

Ellison, who came off the bench to replace starting point guard Kareem Jackson less than four minutes into the game, finished with 11 points and three assists, but turned the ball over six times.

With 13 tough Pac-10 games remaining and senior forward Mark Hendrickson still unable to play because of a broken hand, WSU’s hopes of any post-season play seem to be fading quickly.

“We haven’t talked about that,” Eastman said. “But, unfortunately, the players read what you guys write (in the newspapers), so they’re going to read about it tomorrow for sure.

“Is this (loss) critical? I don’t know. I just know we’ve got to regroup (for Thursday night’s home game against California). If we’re waiting for Mark, if I was a betting man, he’s not playing in the Bay Area games - but I’m not a doctor, either.”

Washington 85, Washington St. 71

WASHINGTON ST. (8-5) - Daniel 6-11, 4-5 16, Mack 3-7 0-0 6, Fontaine 9-16 6-6 25, Antrum 1-7 0-0 3, Jackson 0-4 0-2 0, Ellison 4-7 0-0 11, Scott 3-5 0-0 6, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Coby 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-60 10-13 71.

WASHINGTON (10-4) - Sanford 12-17 0-0 27, Amos 0-1 0-0 0, Hamilton 4-6, 0-0 10, Boston 6-11 0-0 14, Booker 1-5 2-2 5, MacCulloch 6-10 3-6 15, Hartman 6-9 0-0 14, Watts 0-4 0-0 0, Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Roberson 0-0 0-0 0, Femerling 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-65 5-8 85.

Halftime-Washington 41, Washington St. 25. 3-Point goals-Washington St. 5-13 (Ellison 3-4, Antrum 1-3, Fontaine 1-5, Jackson 0-1), Washington 10-13 (Sanford 3-4, Hamilton 2-2, Boston 2-3, Hartman 2-3, Booker 1-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Washington St. 35 (Daniel 11), Washington 29 (Hamilton, Booker 6). Assists-Washington St. 13 (Ellison 3), Washington 13 (Hamilton 6). Total fouls-Washington St. 12, Washington 12. A-7,900.

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