Canisius, By Technical Ko Questionable ‘T’ Helps Oust WSU, 89-80

What Kevin Eastman didn’t say spoke volumes about what really happened to his Washington State men’s basketball team Thursday night.

The first-year Cougars coach was asked how significant a role a questionable late-game technical foul call against Carlos Daniel had played in his team’s 89-80 loss to Canisius in the third round of the National Invitation Tournament.

“We have a league rule where I’m not allowed to talk about bad officiating,” Eastman answered politely, but curtly.

After a long pause, he added, “Or good officiating, either. I can’t talk about either one.”

And his short stay in the postgame interview room made it obvious that he felt any praise of the officiating would not have been warranted, even if it had been allowed.

“I just feel terrible that we came all this way to have this happen to us,” said Eastman, whose first WSU team finished 18-12 and advanced farther in postseason play than any since 1941, when the Cougars lost to Wisconsin in the championship of the NCAA Tournament.

The win earned Canisius (21-12) a spot in the NIT’s Final Four and a trip to New York City.

The Griffins, who tied with St. Peter’s for second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, will face Virginia Tech in one of Monday night’s two semifinal-round games at Madison Square Garden.

The Cougars had hoped to take a bite out of the Big Apple themselves after having endured life on the road for nearly a week and missing most of spring break.

“We got beat by a good team that was really on fire,” Eastman said.

Still, the call against Daniel was a crusher.

It came with 2:39 left and further incited an already frenzied crowd of 9,065 that was the second-largest to watch a Canisius game at Memorial Auditorium.

WSU had just sliced an 11-point second-half deficit to 72-68 after Mark Hendrickson powered inside for what seemed like a huge bucket.

But on the Golden Griffins’ ensuing possession, Daniel was whistled for a technical after an official thought he slapped the ball out of the hands of the Canisius player trying to inbound it.

The 5 seconds allowed to inbound the ball had nearly expired, and it looked like a certain turnover. But instead, the technical put Canisius’ Craig Wise on the free-throw line, and he calmly drilled both free throws to make it 74-68. Daniel did not come into the interview room after the game, but teammate Isaac Fontaine, who was on the floor at the time, said Daniel never touched the ball.

“The guy just kind of dropped it,” explained Fontaine, who led WSU with 20 points after a non-productive first half. “But Carlos was so close to him, I guess they thought he got hit.”

Wise ended up on the line again after the Griffins’ ensuing possession and dropped in two more foul shots that seemed to sap the rest of WSU’s spirit. Canisius scored its final 17 points from the foul line to pull away.

The Cougars are scheduled to arrive in Spokane on United Airlines at 11:52 a.m. today.

WSU hoped to work out an agreement with KXLY-TV to televise the game in Spokane via a feed from a Buffalo station that wanted to air it. But Canisius was unable to sell enough tickets to meet the NIT requirement for lifting a local blackout. That meant no TV coverage, anywhere.

The call against Daniel might have resulted in a few smashed television sets. Still, Fontaine refused to place all of the blame on the technical.

“Sure, we were back to within four, but it wasn’t like because all of that happened that we felt like we were going to automatically lose,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking that, anyway. The ref called it, you gotta go with it.”

What bothered Fontaine more was his team’s first-half swoon that wiped out an early WSU lead and let Canisius reclaim its confidence.

The Cougars, with Hendrickson abusing defenders inside, stunned the Griffins and their fans with a 19-10 run to start the game.

But they lost most of their early momentum after Canisius coach John Beilein went against the book and put his Griffins into a zone against the best-shooting team in the country.

WSU lost aggression at that point, and reserve Chris Young hit a couple of long jumpers and a pair of free throws that ignited a 24-11 run and helped Canisius build a 36-30 halftime lead.

The Cougars closed within 44-41 with just less than 3 minutes gone in the second half on a 3-pointer by Fontaine. But the Griffins, with 6-foot-8 junior center Michael Meeks stepping outside to knock down a couple of long jumpers, went on another extended run right after that and pushed their lead back to 66-56 with 7:48 left.

Canisius 89, Washington St. 80

WASHINGTON ST. (18-12)

Ellison 2-7 2-2 8, Antrum 4-8 0-0 10, Mack 5-9 0-0 10, Hendrickson 5-9 9-9 19, Fontaine 9-18 1-2 20, Griffin 2-6 2-2 7, Daniel 2-6 0-1 4, Corkrum 0-1 0-0 0, Vik 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-65 14-16 80.

CANISIUS (21-12)

Moore 1-4 4-4 6, Thompson 0-3 0-0 0, Meeks 8-10 7-7 24, Barley 8-9 4-4 20, Wise 3-11 7-8 13, James 3-4 0-0 8, Frazier 1-2 0-0 3, Gorman 0-0 0-0 0, Young 3-8 5-7 13, Collins 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 28-56 27-30 89.

Halftime-Canisius 36, WSU 30. 3-Point goals-WSU 6-17 (Antrum 2-4, Ellison 2-7, Griffin 1-2, Fontaine 1-4), Canisius 6-21 (James 2-3, Young 2-6, Frazier 1-2, Meeks 1-2, Moore 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Wise 0-4). Fouled out-Fontaine. Rebounds-WSU 38 (Fontaine 8), Canisius 26 (Wise 7). Assists-WSU 19 (Ellison 6), Canisius 24 (Wise 8). Total fouls- WSU 21, Canisius 16. Technical-Daniel. A-9,065.

Penn State 67, Iowa 64

In Iowa City, Iowa, Pete Lisicky’s 3 with 2.1 seconds left sent the Lions to the semis.