Cougs’ Kelati an All-Pac-10 first-team pick

PULLMAN – Washington State senior guard Thomas Kelati was named to the All-Pac-10 team Monday, the first Cougar so honored since 1998.

Arizona State’s Ike Diogu was named the conference’s Player of the Year, Washington’s Lorenzo Romar Coach of the Year and UCLA’s Jordan Farmar the Freshman of the Year.

“I’m very honored to receive it,” said Kelati, who leads the Cougars with 14.1 points a game this season. “Although it’s an individual award, I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates and the coaching staff.”

Kelati has been the Cougars’ best scoring threat, especially from the perimeter where he has hit 75 3-pointers. He’s also had the benefit of a couple of big games in the spotlight, most specifically in WSU’s road upet of Arizona, where Kelati scored 27 points.

But coaches around the league have told the Walla Walla native the selection has as much to do with defense as offense. Kelati has been able to shut down leading scorers from a number of Pac-10 teams this season, most notably Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire, who may be the nation’s top outside shooter, but who didn’t hit a single 3 in either game against WSU.

“The fact that people really got to know him over his four years and then saw him emerge, particularly this year, made it almost assured,” head coach Dick Bennett said. “I think his big game against Arizona got him that honor. But in truth, people knew (he) was the guy they had to stop in what was an offense that labored to score a lot of points. People still regarded him as the key to beating us. So he earned it just as much as a threat as his actual statistics. It’s good. It’s right.”

Two other Cougars earned honorable mentions on the all-freshman team, center Robbie Cowgill and point guard Derrick Low. While the All-Pac-10 team consists of 10 players, the freshman team is limited to five, regardless of position.

Low’s spot on the team would not have registered as much of a surprise at the beginning of the year, as the freshman has stepped into the starting point guard role as planned. Cowgill, however, was thought to be a redshirt candidate in the fall but has ended up starting 18 games, including 15 of the last 16.

“I didn’t expect it,” he said. “I really didn’t even expect to be in this situation at the beginning of the year.”

Henry returns

Freshman power forward Chris Henry made an unexpected return to practice Monday. Henry had an emergency appendectomy in the early morning hours of Feb. 25 and was expected to be out for the season.

But Henry, the bulkiest player WSU has inside, rejoined the team and Bennett said he might even be available for spot duty in the Pac-10 tournament.

“If all goes well, maybe he’ll be able to suit up and we might get a minute or two out of him,” Bennett said. “It would give us one more body, and you know it’s going to be kind of a rumble in the lane Thursday.”

Henry has played in 14 games, seeing his minutes increase in the games before the appendicitis. He was on the floor for 13 against Washington in his last game.

Notes

WSU has just two practices at home this week, one Monday and the other today, before flying to Los Angeles this afternoon for the tournament. … Carlos Daniel was the last Cougar on the All-Pac-10 team in 1998. … Kelati’s 29 points in the Cougars’ last game Saturday was a career high.