Cougs hero hyperextends elbow
PULLMAN – Senior forward Chris Schlatter, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer for the Washington State men’s basketball team against Arizona State on Saturday in his last home game, hyperextended his left elbow in practice on Monday.
Schlatter had X-rays on the elbow that revealed no damage, so it appears he should be able to play in WSU’s crucial games at Stanford and California this week.
“I’m hoping,” head coach Dick Bennett said at the conclusion of the practice session, before knowing the X-ray results. “A hyperextension is painful, but at least you can wrap that.
“We’ve got a lot of kids playing more minutes than they should and some who probably shouldn’t be playing at all playing. If he’s gone, that will have a very devastating effect on our game.”
Schlatter has not been a major contributor in every game for the Cougars this season, coming off the bench for a stretch early in the conference season. But as of late, he has been a key defender in the low post, helping to neutralize some of the Pac-10’s better players.
Rawlins defends players
WSU President V. Lane Rawlins wrote a guest column in the student newspaper defending the rights of two basketball players accused of making racially insensitive gestures and noises near the school’s Multicultural Center.
Without naming Robbie Cowgill or Alex Kirk, Rawlins indicated his disapproval of the public protests directed against them, including one at the game against Arizona last week.
“We cannot tolerate harassment of those who stand accused of misbehavior,” Rawlins wrote in the Daily Evergreen. “And yet, that is what we have seen happening on our campus this past week. Posters, signs and remarks targeting accused students violate the principles of our university, and the very values sought to be protected, namely the right to be treated fairly and with respect.
“The students who have been accused of conduct violations have the right to due process, which, after all, is one of the fundamental rights upon which our society was built.”
A finding and the possible resultant punishment is expected from the school’s student conduct board either today or Wednesday.
Notes
Associate head coach Tony Bennett has been named to the all-time Wisconsin high school team. Bennett, who scored 1,340 points for Green Bay Preble from 1985-88, received the fourth-most votes of any player, placing him on the first of five teams named. Dick Bennett also received seven of the 173 votes cast for all-time coach based on his work at Eau Claire Memorial. … Chris Henry is doing significantly better after his emergency appendectomy last week and was on the bench for both Saturday’s game and Monday’s practice.