Blog matters

A sampling from the past week of entries in The Spokesman-Review blog SportsLink at spokesman.com/sportslink.

Washington State men’s basketball coach Ken Bone announced Friday that junior point guard Danny Lawhorn is not participating in team activities after violating a team rule.

No further details were provided about what rule Lawhorn violated, and no timetable has been set for his return.

Lawhorn, a junior-college transfer, figured to compete for the team’s starting point guard job. He led the NJCAA in assists during his two seasons at San Jacinto (Texas) College. But this news seems to leave his status in flux.

The Cougars will also be without freshman guard Que Johnson for the first few weeks of practice while he recovers from a stress fracture in his shin. Johnson comes off his crutches on Monday, Bone said, and the coach estimates that Johnson will miss two or three weeks of practice. But he does expect him to be ready to go by the time the season starts.

The Western Hockey League season couldn’t have started any better for the Spokane Chiefs, who are 3-0-0-0 after Wednesday night’s 6-1 victory at Victoria, B.C.

Spokane defeated Tri-City 6-2 to open the season on Saturday and posted an identical score during Tuesday’s win at Victoria. The Chiefs are off to a blazing start without having played a home game. 

The Vandals basketball team will be breaking in 12 first-year-eligible players. Only two of the newcomers, redshirt freshman Ty Egbert and transfer Allen Jiles IV, practiced with the team last year.

Idaho will participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in November. The tournament’s schedule was finalized Thursday.

The Vandals play four games as part of the event – at Oklahoma on Nov. 13; at Portland on Nov. 21; North Texas on Nov. 22; and Columbia on Nov. 23. Those last two games are in Portland.