UW Adds To Eastern’s Pain Huskies Thump Eagles Days After Car Crash Kills Starting Guard From Staff And Wire Reports
Talk about piling on.
Trying to put the death of starting point guard Rodrick McClure behind them, the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team ran into a few more obstacles on Sunday.
Battling snowy weather in Seattle and dealing with Travis King’s tonsillitis, the Eagles fell to the University of Washington 81-54 in a non-conference game.
“We talked about shelving our grief for 40 minutes tonight and tried to concentrate on basketball,” said EWU coach Steve Aggers. “Once we got on the court, they did that. The tough time comes now with the funeral on Tuesday and a long bus ride home after a tough, tough loss.”
Originally scheduled for Saturday, the game was postponed after McClure and his stepfather died Thursday morning in an auto accident in McClure’s hometown of Las Vegas. McClure averaged 7.7 points and 5.3 assists in Eastern Washington’s first nine games of the season.
King, who spent Sunday morning in the hospital, started in place of McClure and played 33 minutes despite what Aggers called “tonsils the size of golf balls.”
“What a gutty performance by Travis,” Aggers said. “He hadn’t eaten in two days. It was an unbelievable effort on his part. I didn’t think he could play more than 10 or 12 minutes. It’s a tribute to his courage and guts. We all have to step up and play like that.” King scored nine points and led the Eagles with three assists.
The score was tied at 6-6 less than 3 minutes into the game when Mark Sanford sparked Washington’s 16-2 run with an alley-oop dunk, a layin and an 18-foot jumper. During a span of nearly 8 minutes the Eagles managed only a tipin by Mike Sims.
“They came in with a lot of emotion,” said UW guard Chris Thompson. ” We had the respect we needed for them. I think that shows in the final score.”
Sanford scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor, and Todd MacCulloch, Jamie Booker and Patrick Femerling each added 12 points for Washington (7-1).
The Huskies are off to their best start since the 1990-91 season.
Karim Scott scored 11 points for the Eagles (4-6).
Booker scored six points during a 10-0 run late in the first half for a 44-23 Washington lead at intermission. The Huskies led by at least 15 points throughout the second half and capitalized on EWU’s 25 turnovers.
“They’re an outstanding defensive team and play very well together,” Aggers said. “You couple that with the fact we have Zac Claus and Travis King in unfamiliar roles. Rod was playing most of the game at the point and handling the ball all the time, and that allowed Travis to be a shooter. They just have to grow into those roles in the next few days.”
EWU, forced to stay in Seattle Sunday night because of the snowy weather, opens the Big Sky Conference schedule on Thursday at Northern Arizona.
“It’s going to be a hard week or two weeks,” Aggers said. “For some of them it will be a hard month or two. This tragedy is going to cloud our season, and we just have to play through it and pull together.”
Washington 81, E. Washington 54
E. Washington (4-6) - Egan 1-4 0-0 2, Scott 5-9 1-1 11, K. Lewis 3-9 2-2 8, King 3-7 2-2 9, M. Lewis 2-8 2-2 6, Turner 3-7 2-2 8, Sims 3-4 0-0 6, Garcille 0-4 2-2 2, Berger 1-4 0-0 2, MossKelley 0-1 0-2 0, Claus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 11-13 54.
Washington (7-1) - Sanford 7-11 4-5 19, MacCulloch 6-7 0-0 12, Watts 2-5 2-2 6, Thompson 2-3 0-0 5, Booker 4-9 3-3 12, Femerling 3-4 6-7 12, Luton 4-7 0-2 8, Wooten 2-6 1-3 5, Walcott 0-4 2-2 2, Moritz 0-0 0-0 0, Gross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-56 18-24 81.
Halftime-Washington 44, E. Washington 23. 3-Point goals-E. Washington 1-9 (King 1-4, M. Lewis 0-1, Berger 0-1, Moss-Kelley 0-1, Egan 0-2), Washington 3-12 (Thompson 1-1, Booker 1-3, Sanford 1-4, Watts 0-1, Luton 0-1, Wooten 0-2). Fouled out-Sims. Rebounds-E. Washington 33 (Scott, Sims 6), Washington 32 (Wooten 6). Assists-E. Washington 10 (King 3), Washington 20 (Thompson 5). Total fouls-E. Washington 23, Washington 15. A-250.
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