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Locally: Washington State standout Isaac Jones to compete at prestigious Portsmouth Invitational Tournament

Washington State forward Isaac Jones speaks to the media during the NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Neb. (Courtesy of WSU Athletics)
From staff reports

From staff reports

Washington State fifth-year senior Isaac Jones accepted an invitation to participate in the 2024 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, the organization announced Monday. Jones became the first WSU student-athlete since Michael Flowers in 2022 to earn an invite to the PIT and will compete April 17-20 at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Jones was named to the All-Pac-12 first team as WSU’s leading scorer and rebounder, leading the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008. The Spanaway, Washington, senior averaged 15.3 points per game over the season, surpassing 1,000 career points on Feb. 17, in just two seasons of Division I basketball. A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week, Jones shot 57.5% from the filed, fifth in the Pac-12 and 33rd nationally.

Every year since 1953, the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament has invited 64 senior college basketball student-athletes to compete before pro scouts. Jones will participate on one of eight teams of eight players in a 12-game tournament over four days.

• Gonzaga’s Brynna Maxwell and Kaylynne Truong have been selected to the Hanes Women’s 3-Point Championship roster for the 35th annual State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix on Thursday. Maxwell and Truong are two of eight players who will participate in the 3-point competition, which will air live on ESPN at 6 p.m.

The State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships invites 24 of the nation’s elite men’s and women’s college basketball players to compete for slam dunk and 3-point shooting bragging rights. The night features the King’s Hawaiian Slam Dunk Championship, the Hanes Men’s 3-Point Championship, the Hanes Women’s 3-Point Shooting Championship and the Dave’s Hot Chicken Hot Shot Challenge. The winners of the Hanes Men’s and Women’s 3-Point Championships will then compete in the Skechers Battle of the Champions.

College baseball

Washington State senior right-hander Grant Taylor was named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Week after his 17-strikeout, one-hit shutout win at Washington last Thursday in Seattle. Taylor was also named the national co-pitcher of the week by Perfect Game.

Taylor broke the previous WSU modern day record of 16 strikeouts set by John Olerud against Eastern Washington in 1988 and the WSU Pac-10/12 mark of 13 set by James Freeman (2005, at SE Louisiana), matched by Matt Way (2009, Washington) and Zane Mills (2021, at Dixie State). Taylor’s one-hitter was the first shutout by a Cougar since he shut out Arizona State in 2022 and is the first one-hitter since Taylor and three relievers one-hit No. 15 Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon, last season. It is Taylor’s second career Pac-12 weekly award after his two-hit shutout against Arizona State on the final weekend of the 2022 season.

College track and field

Gonzaga’s Willow Collins and Rosina Machu set program bests in the women’s 5,000 and 10,000 meters, respectively, as the Bulldogs competed at the Stanford Invitational last weekend in Stanford, California.

Collins ran the second sub-16-minute 5K in school history, finishing in 15:53.41. Machu, competing for the first time this outdoor season, finished her first collegiate 10K in 32:45.57. It is the first sub-33-minute 10K in GU women’s track history.