GU rides defense past Portland, 67-50
Back with the game story from Gonzaga's 67-50 win over Portland on Saturday night.
Click below for the unedited version that will run in Sunday's S-R. We'll have the day-after post up tomorrow morning.
By
Staff writer
Nothing came easy for the Gonzaga Bulldogs – the baskets, the rebounds, the long-distance 3-pointers.
But it was even tougher sledding for
Gonzaga limited the normally efficient
The game, played in front of another sellout crowd of 6,000 at the
“They’re hard to get separation from because they play hard-nosed defense, they rebound really well and they stay disciplined to run their stuff,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I was proud of our guys. We didn’t shoot it great, but I thought we had one of the best, probably our best defensive effort of the season.”
The Bulldogs (10-4) finally got some separation in the final five minutes. They maintained an 8-12 lead throughout the second half until Matt Bouldin drove for a layin, then made a steal and another driving layin while being fouled. He hit the free throw and GU’s lead was 56-41.
Josh Heytvelt’s dunk and Jeremy Pargo’s two free throws gave Gonzaga a 60-42 lead with 3:28 remaining.
“They have big guys, long arms, and it was hard down there (inside),” Pilots forward Robin Smeulders said. “They just switch everything, which they can do because they’re so tall. It was hard for us to run our offense effectively.”
“If we come out with that type of intensity every night, we’ll be tough to score on,” said Bouldin, who backed up a 26-point effort against
Gonzaga trailed 13-12 after Bouldin scored inside with 15:03 left. Neither team cracked the scoreboard until Heytvelt, who had eight of GU’s first 14 points, connected in the lane and Demetri Goodson followed with a steal and two free throws.
Guard Nik Raivio, younger brother of ex-Zag Derek Raivio, was 3 of 12 and scored nine points, seven below his season average. He was 2 of 9 from the floor and scored only six points in last season’s game at the
“Our point guards and wings did a good job pressuring the point. They had to make tough passes and I was able to read those,” said Gonzaga guard Steven Gray, who had 13 points and five steals. “We had great help on (Raivio) and made things difficult.”
The Pilots didn’t have a double-figures scorer until Jared Stohl’s 3-pointer with 90 seconds left gave him 10 points. No
Heytvelt had 14 points and four turnovers. Pargo chipped in 12 points, but committed four turnovers and didn’t have an assist. Austin Daye didn’t have a basket until midway through the second half and he finished with a season-low three points. Daye had a team-high 10 rebounds, but the Pilots became the fourth straight team to outrebound the Zags (36-35).
Gonzaga, which has shot above 40 percent in all but one game this season (
“It was one of those nights where our defense won the game for us,” said Micah Downs, who had seven rebounds. “We weren’t making a lot of shots, but we grinded it on defense.”
Gonzaga remains home next week to face