Cougs Pack Bags For Long Haul WSU To Visit Illinois State In Nit’s Next Round
As a result of Wednesday night’s 94-82 victory over Texas Tech in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, Washington State will be sent packing.
The Cougars (17-11) learned late Thursday night that they will play their second-round game Monday, March 20, against Illinois State (20-12) in Normal, Ill. The time of the game has yet to be determined.
ISU, which tied Southern Illinois for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference, advanced to the NIT’s second round by outlasting Utah State 93-87 in overtime Thursday night. That game was played in Logan, Utah.
WSU officials had been hoping to land another home game - perhaps even in Spokane. But sending the Cougars east makes much more economic sense.
The winner of Monday’s WSU-ISU game will face the winner of the second-round matchup between Bradley (20-9) and Canisius (19-2) on either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of next week.
Bradley, which is located in Peoria, Ill., is only about 60 miles from the ISU campus. Canisius is located in Buffalo, N.Y. The winner of the WSU-ISU game will probably keep moving eastward in hopes of ending up in New York’s Madison Square Garden for the March 27 NIT semifinals.
Washington State made its way into the second round by shooting lights out against Tech.
The Cougars shot 66.7 percent from the field and kept the tempo just a tick below break-neck, which is where Tech’s immensely athletic bunch tried to push it.
Isaac Fontaine led WSU’s scoring with 32 points and held Tech’s high-scoring senior forward Mark Davis to just five field-goal attempts and two points - nearly 16 below his average of 17.9.
“A lot of people will notice Ike’s point production,” Eastman said, “but where he was most important to us was in his ability to slow down Mark Davis.
“He limited his shot attempts to five, which was the biggest thing, and he also didn’t let him dominate the boards like he normally does.”
The Cougars also got a splendid performance from sophomore forward Tavares Mack, who scored 18 points and pulled down six rebounds despite having his playing time limited by early foul problems.
“He was active last night,” Eastman said. “And even though he missed the dunk tap in the first half and the dunk in the second, those were aggressive shots.”
Mark Hendrickson finished with 19 points for the Cougars and played a main role in helping WSU forge its’ 50-43 halftime lead.
During one stretch of the first half, the 6-9 junior forward scored 10 consecutive points for the Cougars. Six of those came on a pair of 3-pointers.
Tech got 23 points from senior guard Lance Hughes and 17 from junior Jason Sasser, an extremely athletic 6-7 forward, who scored from everywhere.
Sasser scored early on a couple of breakaway dunks and then went outside and drilled a couple of 3-pointers after the Cougars quickened their defensive retreat.
The Red Raiders, after trailing by as many as 12 in the first half, got a pair of free throws from Cory Carr to take a 68-67 lead with 8:45 remaining. But WSU answered with a tough bucket by Fontaine on the drive and got the crowd of 5,200 into it in a big way when Mack scored from inside and then swatted a shot by Carr into the cheap seats.
The Cougars outscored Tech 23-14 the rest of the way to make the final score deceivingly lopsided.
“They have a really good basketball team,” Eastman said of the Red Raiders, who finished 20-10 after sharing the regular-season Southwest Conference championship with Texas. “The only thing they laced was probably an inch or two on their inside guys.”
“Washington State really played well,” he said. “They have an outstanding team. Kevin has done an excellent job and they play very well at home. “We never could quite get control of the lead. Their crowd really got inot the ball game, did a nice job and helped them. I certainly want to congratulate them and wish them a lot of luck in the NIT.”
Thursday’s NIT scores
Ohio University 83, George Washington 71
South Florida 74, St. John’s 67
Providence 72, College of Charleston 67
St. Bonaventure 75, Southern Mississippi 70
Nebraska 69, Georgia 61
Bradley 86, Eastern Michigan 85, 2OT
Illinois State 93, Utah State 87, OT
xxxx On deck The Cougars must hit the road to play the Missouri Valley Conference’s runner-up.