The Leavey Center in Santa Clara and War Memorial Gym in San Francisco haven’t been easy on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in recent years, but they found a way to win in both venues this week without their best fastball.

GU blew a 10-point lead Wednesday before Sam Dower Jr. drained a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left to spark a 54-52 victory. The Bulldogs downed USF 75-65 on Saturday with Dower scoring a team-high 24 points and the defense more than doing its share of the work. That was the trend of the week.

Here’s my game story, A.P. and the S.F. Chronicle. Read on for my day-after post.

 

--Gonzaga has been getting healthier the past few weeks, but Kevin Pangos can’t seem to catch a break. Just when he thinks his right big toe, the one that’s been bothering him for nearly two months, is on the mend, he has another setback. The latest one came in Friday’s practice.

Then he sprained his left ankle in the first minute of Saturday’s game. Pangos wasn’t sure how it happened, but Przemek Karnowski thought Pangos stepped on his foot as they doubled a USF forward.

“I kind of hit it (the toe in practice),” Pangos said. “And then the left ankle. Little things.”

It's a big pain for the junior guard, who keeps logging big minutes, though his 31 minutes Saturday was lower than usual. He made only 2 of 9 shots, 1 of 5 from long distance.

“I was sore,” he said. “I don’t know if that affected my shot. Just everything, it’s frustrating.”

--Dower’s scoring binge continues. The 6-9 junior had 12 points in each half. He made 12 of 13 free throws. When USF coach Rex Walters was T’d up, Dower took, and made, both free throws (Entering the game Gary Bell Jr. was at 87% on FTs, Dower at 86%. Pangos (91.4%) wasn’t in the game).

Dower’s last six games: 18, 28, 18, 18, 13 and 24.

Add in Karnowski, who had a strong all-around game with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and the Zags have an improving inside game. It’s not all inside as Dower can connect from mid-range an occasional 3.

“They play a huge factor with lot of teams, really almost everybody,” guard Kyle Dranginis said. “It’s hard for any team to guard them 1-on-1 so they play a factor in our offense. If they have to help and double them, we’re going to get open shots.”

The 7-foot-1 Karnowski blocked three shots and his presence bothered several more. On one sequence he formed a wall near the bucket as Matt Glover missed twice. Karnowski grabbed the board and Glover fouled him.

Aside from his points, rebounds and defense, Coach Mark Few said Karnowski passed effectively out of double teams, helping create offense for others. Karnowski suffered cut under his right eye that required stitches. He left the game a few times because of persistent bleeding.

“When he was in there, he was going to work,” Few said.

--USF’s Cole Dickerson and Kruize Pinkins struggled against GU’s frontcourt (that often included Dranginis, and in short spurts Angel Nunez and Drew Barham) for the second straight time. They combined to make just 5 of 13 shots and only attempted three FTs.

Dickerson had scored in double figures in his last six games, including three 20-plus games. Pinkins’s lowest output in the last five games was 14 points.

“We doubled a lot,” Few said. “They came in on a roll, they’ve been so effective the last month. We didn’t want to give (guard Avry) Holmes that many looks, but … ”

Holmes hit four 3s and scored 18 points, but Dickerson and Pinkins were limited to a combined 12 points.

--Dranginis pulled down 12 rebounds, bettering his previous career high by four. He scored seven points to go with one assist and one steal. He played 29 minutes, despite returning to his role on the bench Bell back in the starting five.

Dranginis quickly corrected me when I asked how a 6-4 guard gathers 12 boards.

“6-5,” Dranginis grinned. “It’s just the mentality. That’s kind of how I’ve approached it all season, it almost turns into a routine almost. If you do that every time you’re going to get some bounces.”

STATS OF NOTE

--Pangos made his only 3 with 22 seconds left in the first half. GU was 0 of 8 on 3s to that point.

--USF’s Glover matched GU’s team total with 5 assists.

--Gonzaga won the boards 40-35 and second-chance points 10-6.

--The Zags had their ugliest assist-to-turnover ratio (5-14) of the season. The five assists was a season low. They’ve only had one other game below 10. (eight vs. South Alabama). The 14 turnovers threatened their season high of 15.

--There were 44 fouls, 25 on USF, which was forced to foul in the final two minutes. GU made 34 of 41 FTs, USF 17 of 22.

--The Bulldogs were 3 of 16 on 3s (19 percent).

--GU made just 35 percent of its shots against Santa Clara and 38 percent vs. USF.

 

 

 

 

QUOTEBOOK

Few: “I thought everyone who went in really helped us. Gary hit some big ones.”

Pangos: “Honestly in stretches we did a good job controlling the game. I was talking to David (Stockton) about it and for the most part we kind of controlled it, but we had little slips. We got both wins, which is all that matters. It’s good for us to get to gut it out and get two good wins.”

USF’s Mark Tollefsen on why GU’s defense bothers the Dons: “Like coach (Walters) was telling us, we haven’t been in many games with this kind of atmosphere. Some of the new guys haven’t experienced it yet and we might have come out a little too fast, we were just rushing some things on offense. They were hard denying, all the way past the NBA 3, and that disturbed us a little bit. In the second half, we got back to how we play.”

Few on why GU’s defense bothers the Dons: “They’re a very good offensive crew, right there with ours. I think our length can bother them at times.”

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