Eastman Suspends 2 Players Cougars Will Be Without Ellison, Mack Against 6th-Rated Bruins

Washington State’s annual road trip from hell turned even more unsavory Friday when first-year Cougar coach Kevin Eastman announced the suspensions of starting point guard Donminic Ellison and reserve forward Tavares Mack for at least one game for breaking a team rule.

Eastman would not go into detail about what team rule was broken, but the players reportedly missed curfew following Thursday night’s 85-76 loss to Southern California.

That means the Cougars will face sixth-ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion this afternoon with only eight scholarship players. The game will be televised live by ABC-TV at 1. The Cougars, who haven’t won a regularseason game in Los Angeles since 1986, are 0-29 against the Bruins at Pauley.

“These types of decisions are always difficult for me,” Eastman admitted, “because they not only affect the players who are being suspended, but they often times affect those that remain to play.

“I want to emphasize that these young men are good people, but even good people make bad judgments. Nevertheless, when working with a group or team, those bad judgments have to be addressed.”

Eastman went on to say that he considers the issue over, although he added that he intends to discuss the matter further on Monday with the two players involved.

Ellison, whose mother, father and older brother live in the L.A. area, sprained his right knee in the loss to the Trojans and was originally thought to be out for at least a week. But the 5-foot-10 sophomore, who is averaging 11.3 points and 6.6 assists per game, was walking without a limp when he went to the UCLA training room for treatment Friday morning.

A local physician, who examined Ellison’s knee later Friday afternoon, cleared him for limited practice beginning Monday.

There was speculation Ellison might have been able to play in this afternoon’s game against the Bruins with his knee braced.

Mack, a 6-9 sophomore, who lost his early season starting job to freshman Carlos Daniel, is averaging 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds.