Cougars’ Postseason Was No Roadblock

The flight back to Spokane will probably be agonizingly long for Washington State’s men’s basketball team this morning - especially for the four seniors who ended their college careers Thursday night with a 89-80 loss to Canisius in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

For Rob Corkrum, David Vik, Joey Warmenhoven and walk-on Matt Bortles, the long Eastern road trip will have to serve as an unsatisfying final chapter in their scrapbooks.

But for the seven underclassmen who played such important roles in WSU’s unexpected success this season, the experience could serve as a springboard to bigger and better things next season.

“As a team, we’ve got to play more games than just the regular season and with us being such a young team, it’s good to get a couple more games,” said sophomore guard Isaac Fontaine, who scored 20 points in the loss, which left the Cougars a step short of their goal to make it to Madison Square Garden in New York for the NIT semifinals and championship game.

“This tournament helps you carry on into next season. You win a couple of games, you get a little confidence - stuff like that. We’ve just got to take this experience and carry it on next year.”

To the NIT, again?

“To the NCAA,” Fontaine said. “No more NITs for this team.”

Cougar coach Kevin Eastman took the defeat hard and said it might be awhile before he could evaluate what his team might gain from having made it as far as the NIT quarterfinals.

“We’ll regroup and talk about it back at the hotel,” he said.

But Mark Hendrickson, the Cougars’ 6-foot-9 junior forward, who scored 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds against the Golden Griffins, said he expects the NIT experience to have a huge impact on next year’s team.

“We learned how to play on the road a little bit and that’s going to be a big trademark for us next year,” Hendrickson said. “A lot of teams are going to come out shooting for us because we do have a lot of guys coming back.”