Cougs Win, Lose Hendrickson Senior Jams Finger In 90-74 Victory, May Sit Out Against Cal State-Irvine

Washington State picked up the easy kind of win it expected against San Jose State Wednesday night, blasting the Spartans 90-74 in a non-conference men’s basketball mismatch at the Events Center.

But the victory, the Cougars’ third in a row and sixth in seven games, could prove to be quite costly if the late-game hand injury sustained by Mark Hendrickson turns out to be as serious as it seemed.

Hendrickson, a 6-foot-9 senior forward and WSU’s leading rebounder, scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds before jamming the little finger on his left hand with just over 2 minutes left.

He left the game in considerable pain and Cougars coach Kevin Eastman said his status for Friday night’s game at Cal State-Irvine is doubtful

“In my mind, I’ve already made the decision that if (the injury) causes him to play with a great deal of pain on Friday night, I’d just as soon lose,” Eastman said.

Hendrickson said he has jammed the finger before but has never experienced the kind of pain he did on this occasion. His hand had swollen considerably by the time the game ended and he is scheduled to have it X-rayed this morning once the team arrives in Irvine, Calif.

It was the play of Hendrickson on the inside and the perimeter scoring of Isaac Fontaine, Shamon Antrum and Donminic Ellison that put the Cougars in charge early and enabled them to withstand another second-half lull against the Spartans (1-7).

Fontaine matched Hendrickson’s 23 points and scored 13 of those in the first half as WSU built a 48-28 lead. Antrum added 15 and Ellison chipped in 13, along with seven assists.

The Cougars bumped their advantage to 62-39 shortly after intermission, but then seemed to lose focus as San Jose, behind the inside power of transfer Sam Allen, a former Washington Husky, managed to cut the deficit to under 20.

Allen finished with 21 points and eight rebounds while teammates Tito Addison and Marmette Williams contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.

“I understand what happened, but I can’t accept it,” Eastman said of his team’s second-half struggles. “You could see it in the body language, the faces and the expressions - we just weren’t into it in the second half.

“It’s natural to have a little bit of a lull, but you can’t accept it. Because if we play against Irvine like we did in the second half tonight, we’re going home 6-2, it’s that simple.”

On the plus side, Eastman was able to find some extended playing time for his backups, although they scored only seven of WSU’s 90 points.

Backup point guard Kareem Jackson and reserve shooting guard Chris Scott each played almost 18 minutes and seemed to make substantial gains in confidence.

Jackson did not score and Scott’s only points came on a 3-pointer he hit midway through the second half. But Eastman did not seem overly concerned by the continued lack of production from his bench.

“The good part of the game was that Kareem and Chris were on the floor; they were playing and they were in there in the first half when it was still on the line,” Eastman said. “Comfort has to come first, then production, and those two haven’t been able to get comfortable because they haven’t been on the floor enough.”

The Cougars return home after Friday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Cal-Irvine to prepare for the start of Pacific-10 Conference play. WSU opens next Thursday night in the Spokane Arena against defending national champion UCLA.

Washington St. 90, San Jose St. 74

WASHINGTON ST. (6-1) - Fontaine 8-15 6-7 23, Mack 4-5 1-3 9, Hendrickson 9-12 5-7 23, Ellison 5-11 2-2 13, Antrum 4-8 7-8 15, Topper 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel 2-3 0-0 4, Scott 1-4 0-0 3, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Slotemaker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 21-27 90.

SAN JOSE ST. (1-7) - Allen 10-13 1-4 21, Greene 3-5 0-2 6, Hammonds 3-9 2-2 8, Saint-Jean 3-9 2-2 8, Addison 3-9 5-6 12, Campbell-Hall 0-4 2-2 2, Bacon 1-2 2-2 4, Williams 4-4 2-2 11, Taylor 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 28-60 16-22 74.

Halftime-Washington St. 48, San Jose St. 28. 3-Point goals- Washington St. 3-9 (Scott 1-1, Fontaine 1-3, Ellison 1-3, Hendrickson 0-1, Antrum 0-1), San Jose St. 2-9 (Williams 1-1, Addison 1-4, Greene 0-1, Saint-Jean 0-1, Campbell-Hall 0-2). Fouled out-Saint-Jean. Rebounds-Washington St. 27 (Hendrickson 8), San Jose St. 34 (Allen 8). Assists-Washington St. 21 (Ellison 7), San Jose St. 13 (Saint-Jean, Addison 4). Total fouls- Washington St. 22, San Jose St. 17. A-1,166.

, DataTimes