Good morning. Kids' stuff today, so I'll post this and hit the road.

GU had perhaps its best 80 minutes of basketball this season, thumping Saint Mary's and LMU at the Kennel. The Bulldogs have had several impressive efforts (Arizona, Notre Dame, Xavier) but probably the one that came closest to SMC/LMU was the home rout of Portland, followed by the road win at Xavier. 

Here are the links: My game story, Jesse Tinsley's fine photo gallery. Elsewhere, Saint Mary's rebounded from the GU loss to defeat Santa Clara — the Broncos' 13-game losing streak is the school's longest since WWII; BYU hit 12 3-pointers to clobber Pepperdine; and San Francisco knocked off San Diego, despite Johnny Dee setting USD's freshman scoring record.

Read on.

Back with my game story from Gonzaga's 78-59 win over LMU on Saturday. The Zags didn't let down after Thursday's big win over Saint Mary's. They dominated the Lions from the opening tip.

Kevin Pangos had 21 points and nine assists. He's probably in line for WCC player of the week honors after pouring in 27 points vs. Saint Mary's. Elias Harris also merits consideration after a pair of double-doubles (10 and 10 vs. SMC, 17 and 15 vs. LMU).

Here's a link to my game story that will run in Sunday's S-R. Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.  

Out of town for several hours last night, slept in this morning and woke up with the realization I forgot to post my short advance of the Gonzaga-LMU game. All I can say is: My fault for not getting this post up sooner.

Here's a quick look at the Lions. It'll be interesting to see if GU can summon the emotion and intensity it had for 40 minutes in Thursday's win over Saint Mary's against a confident LMU squad.

In the preview I mention that a $681,000 check from Mark and Marcy Few's Coaches vs. Cancer event last summer will be presented to the American Cancer Society. This will not be the normal check-passing ceremony you've seen dozens of times on the evening news.

The check will be accepted on behalf of the ACS by Jo Lynn Chastain, mother of 11-year-old Brandon Bird, the avid Zags fan who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. GU players and staff visited Bird in the hospital prior to Thanksgiving and he visited practice in mid-December. While the team watched video in the locker room and Brandon took pictures at center court, I spoke to Jo Lynn for a few minutes about Brandon's journey and came away floored by her and her son's courage, and I just about lost it (my daughter had undergone surgery the day before).

I'm told Brandon still communicates with the team and continues to follow the Zags despite his failing health. Below, I posted my short article on Brandon from Dec. 15th. I'm hoping the check-passing ovation is the loudest of the day.

Loyola Marymount did it again, winning its fifth straight WCC road game. The Lions knocked off Santa Clara 74-62 Monday behind Anthony Ireland's 25 points. LMU is 5-0 on the road, 0-2 at home (losses to GU and BYU).

The Broncos' Kevin Foster, who leads the WCC in scoring, didn't play due to a rules violation. Three Broncos who usually start, including guard Evan Roquemore, were held out of the starting five but did play, also for rules violations. Foster is expected to return Thursday.

-In case you missed it in my late post last night, I had a Gonzaga notebook in today's S-R, focusing on Guy Landry Edi.

-This showed up in my inbox this morning and it's an interesting read. An A.P. poll voter explains why he has GU ranked higher than Saint Mary's on his ballot.

Greetings from snowy Sea-Tac Airport. It doesn't snow here often, but you can pretty much count on me being at Sea-Tac when it does.

I put together this day-after LMU post on the first leg of the trip. Here's a link to my game story from last night's game — a GU win 62-58. I know the perception is that Gonzaga rolls to easy wins in Gersten Pavilion, but that hasn't been the case at all the last three years. Those results: LMU 74-66, GU 67-57 and GU 62-58. All were dogfights.

Read on for my day-after post. 

Two days after getting thumped by Saint Mary's, Gonzaga dug out a 62-58 road win over Loyola Marymount tonight at Gersten Pavilion. Elias Harris had 19 points and Gary Bell Jr. was outstanding at both ends of the court. He had a season-high 16 points and carried Gonzaga at times.

Here's a link to my game story that will run in Sunday's S-R..Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Back with my game story from Gonzaga's 67-57 win over LMU on Thursday. The unedited version is below.

Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Loyola Marymount standout junior forward Drew Viney will not play in tonight's game against Gonzaga. Viney, who missed Saturday's game with Saint Mary's with a migraine headache, has been undergoing tests (blood work, etc.) this week and hasn't yet been cleared to play. He's in street clothes as LMU goes through pre-game warmups.

Head coach Max Good hopes Viney will receive medical clearance Friday.

It's a big loss for the Lions. Viney averages 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds this season. He was first-team All-WCC last year when he averaged 16.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He scored 18 points against Gonzaga in the Zags' 79-59 win last month in Spokane. He had 15, 20 and 16 against Gonzaga in three games last season.

Without Viney, guard Vernon Teel, one of LMU's top players, returns to the starting lineup. He's been coming off the bench, but he started against the Gaels when VIney wasn't able to play.

For in-game updates, head to Twitter.com/srjimm.

Check back here later for my game story.

Read on below for some more info on Gonzaga's road trip, stats and a notebook item that will run on the S-R's Four Corners page tomorrow.

Back with my game story from Gonzaga's hard-earned 79-59 victory over LMU. Here's the link.

Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Gonzaga broke away from a halftime tie with a 19-7 run to open the second half and went on to a 79-59 victory over feisty Loyola Marymount on Saturday.

Gonzaga (13-5, 3-0 WCC) won its ninth straight. LMU dropped to 8-10, 1-3.

Rob Sacre led GU with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Elias Harris added 14 points and 10 boards and Steven Gray, who had six points during GU’s second-half surge, finished with 16 points.

Drew Viney paced the Lions 18 points.

The Bulldogs had a 46-16 advantage in points in the paint.

More in about two hours.

A couple of notes before tipoff: LMU will be without freshman forward Godwin Okonji (5.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg). He was hit in the nose during Thursday's loss at Portland and won't play tonight.

Also, guard Vernon Teel (14.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg) isn't starting.

Starters for each team haven't been listed on the scoreboard.

Head over to Twitter.com/SRjimm for in-game updates.

Gonzaga is favored to win its 11th consecutive conference title, according to the WCC coaches’ preseason poll released Tuesday. The Bulldogs received six first-place votes and 48 of 49 possible points. 

Loyola Marymount is picked to finish second, followed by Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara. LMU and Saint Mary’s each earned one first-place vote. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their own team.

GU senior Steven Gray and sophomore Elias Harris were selected to the 10-player All-WCC team.  

More here.

Back with the game story from Sunday night’s rugby scrum, er, basketball game. Gonzaga battled past Loyola Marymount 77-62 to advance to the WCC Tournament title game.

My unedited game story is below. Saint Mary’s is leading by 22 with about 3 minutes left, so that will set up the third showdown between the Gaels and Bulldogs.

Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Gonzaga will play for the West Coast Conference Tournament title for the 13th straight season. The Bulldogs withstood a Loyola Marymount comeback in the second half and registered a 77-62 semifinals victory Sunday at the Orleans Arena.

GU led by 16 at the break, but LMU fought back within six before Gonzaga pulled away. Robert Sacre hit a pair of free throws and Bol Kong drained a 3-pointer to hike Gonzaga’s lead to 66-55. A 6-0 spurt about a minute later sealed it.

Steven Gray finished with 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Elias Harris added 16 points.

Back with the game story in about two hours.

Gonzaga scored the first eight points of the game and didn’t let off the throttle. The Bulldogs, behind Steven Gray’s 14-points and four assists and significant contributions from reserves Manny Arop and Bol Kong, moved in front 41-25 against Loyola Marymount at half.

Gonzaga made 13 of its first 17 shots and finished the half 16 of 28 (57.1 percent). LMU was just 8 of 25 (32 percent), committed eight turnovers and didn’t have an assist.

Gray took a hard fall on his side when he bit on Drew Viney’s pump fake, but he returned after a rest of less than two minutes. He made 5 of 7 shots and 3 of 4 free throws. Arop added four points and six rebounds. Kong had a pair of three-point plays and an assist. Demetri Goodson added five points and four rebounds as GU leads the latter category 18-13.

More at the final buzzer.

The second half of the Portland-San Diego men’s game just started (Pilots 39-28 at the time of this post), so I thought I’d go ahead and post this look ahead to Gonzaga’s assignments Sunday at the West Coast Conference tournaments.

Before we get to that, here’s an article on ex-Zag Jeff Brown’s induction into the WCC Hall of Honor on Saturday morning.

Read on.

A quick post before I head to the interview room. Gonzaga will play Loyola Marymount, which eliminated San Francisco 84-76, in the semifinals Sunday at the WCC men’s tournament.

The Lions lost twice to USF in the regular season, but they won Saturday to extend their season. LMU defeated Pepperdine 87-84 on Friday.

I’ll have a story up in about 45 minutes on GU’s men’s and women’s semifinals matchups.

Gonzaga’s four-game winning streak ended Thursday as Loyola Marymount knocked off the Bulldogs 74-66 in front of 3,770 at Gersten Pavilion.

You can read my unedited game story below and check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Gonzaga scored the first basket of the second half, but Loyola Marymount took control with 24-10 run and went to upset the 13th-ranked Bulldogs 74-66 at Gersten Pavilion on Thursday. 

LMU had five players in double figures, led by Ashley Hamilton’s 17 points. The Lions took the lead for good, 48-45, on Jarred DuBois’ 3-pointer with 13:56 remaining. LMU led by as many as nine before Gonzaga narrowed the deficit to four on three occasions in the final three minutes.

It looked like GU might get an opportunity to get closer after forcing LMU to inbound with 1 second left on the shot clock and 43 ticks on the game clock, but Larry Davis got open underneath for a layin.

It was LMU’s first win over a ranked opponent since beating Alabama in 1990 in the NCAA Tournament.

Check back for the game story in about hours.