Ellison’s Heroics Can’t Save Cocky Cougars From Loss
Donminic Ellison brought only one miracle with him to Friel Court on Wednesday night, and Washington State ended up needing two.
Ellison, WSU’s junior point guard, rescued the Cougars momentarily with a game-tying 3-pointer just as regulation time expired. But he missed another desperate 30-footer at the end of the overtime period and the Townsville Suns, a touring club team from Australia, escaped with an 87-86 men’s basketball exhibition victory.
The loss left WSU with a meaningless, yet disappointing, split of its two exhibition games and stirred up additional questions in the minds of the 3,011 in attendance about just how good the Cougars are.
One person not confused along those lines, however, was second-year coach Kevin Eastman, who was downright disgusted with his team’s effort and attitude.
Once again, the Cougars came out flat, failed to crank up their transition game and continued fighting a bad case of the yips at the free-throw line.
“What you saw, I think, was a team that probably thinks it’s a little bit better than it is, meaning our team, losing to an average team that played the best it has - or will - play,” explained Eastman, who immediately scheduled an early morning practice for today. “It was a total breakdown in all areas, except maybe our defensive pressure on the ball.
“We’ve got some major work to do in terms of knocking down their cockiness, but we’ll do it. I don’t know if we’ll win, but I’ll definitely get the cockiness out of them.”
The Cougars open their regular season Nov. 24 against Gonzaga at the Spokane Arena.
Ellison, in his first game back from a suspension that forced him and Tavares Mack to miss last week’s 88-75 win over High Five America, put the Cougars on his shoulders in the final 7 minutes of regulation and throughout most of the overtime, scoring 11 of his 18 points during that stretch.
He sent the game into an extra period with a graceful, high-arching 27-footer that settled into the net just as the buzzer sounded. (He later clanked the final shot of the overtime off the back of the rim.)
Ellison’s buzzer-beater at the end of regulation capped a splendid comeback that erased the 62-53 lead Townsville had built with just more than 7 minutes remaining.
And the comeback was enough to impress Suns coach Mark Bragg, who felt his team played the best game of its tour.
“They have got a really nice team,” Bragg said of the Cougars. “We are at the end of our season and they are at the beginning of theirs. Since they have just started, it is probably unfair and hard to get a good gauge on the relative strength of both teams.
“They are going to be very, very good. They have a great basketball team with great balance.”
Mark Hendrickson was again WSU’s most consistent player, scoring 22 points. Mack added 20 and Isaac Fontaine chipped in 18, along with a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Cougars turned the ball over 15 times and made only 22 of 34 foul shots.
Townsville got 34 points from 26-year-old Cameron Dickinson, a 6-foot-5, red-headed, left-handed shooting machine, and 28 from 6-7 post player Clarence Tyson.
Dickinson made 13 of 25 shots from the field, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
Townsville 87, WSU 86 (OT)
TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA
Cameron 0-2 0-0 0, Froling 0-1 0-0 0, Tyson 13-16 2-4 28, Dickinson 13-25 2-2 34, Blades 5-11 8-8 18, Lindstrom 1-2 0-0 2, Cowan 0-1 0-0 0, Hitchelhill 1-3 2-2 5. Totals 33-61 14-16 87.
WASHINGTON STATE
Ellison 7-14 2-5 18, Antrum 0-5 2-4 2, Fontaine 6-14 5-5 18, Scott 1-5 0-0 2, Hendrickson 5-10 9-14 22, Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Mack 8-11 4-6 20. Totals 29-62 22-34 86.
Halftime score - T 37, WSU 31. End regulation - 74-74. Overtime - T 13, WSU 12.
3-point goals - T 7-16 (Cameron 0-2, Dickinson 6-9, Blades 0-1, Lindstrom 0-1, Hitchelhill 1-3), WSU 6-16 (Ellison 2-6, Antrum 0-4, Fontaine 1-1, Hendrickson 3-5). Total fouls - T 23, WSU 17. Fouled out - Cameron. Technical fouls - Cameron. Rebounds - T 32 (Tyson 7), WSU 37 (Fontaine 10). Assists - T 18 (Blades 6), WSU 12 (Ellison 4). A-3,011.
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