Back with a look at tomorrow's GU-Portland game and some of the changes the teams have made since Gonzaga's win last month. Here's the link to the article that will run in Thursday's S-R.

Below, you'll find a short preview of the Gonzaga-Portland matchup, some stats and a notebook item on Keegan Hyland leaving Vermont's program that will run on tomorrow's Four Corners Page.

More later on GU-Portland.

The latest from the outstanding Spokane Class of 2007 in women's basketball, Portland senior Tara Cronin (G-Prep), the subject of our notebook this week. (University of Portland photo)

Also, Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund (U-Hi) - the headline in the Class of '07 - is a finalist for the Lowe's Senior Class Award. There are 10 finalists, somehow Courtney Vandersloot of Gonzaga isn't one of them. The winner is determined by fan voting and you can vote once a day. To see the final 10 and vote, check here.

There's more. Read on.

A little later than usual (I drove home while waiting for the link to be posted), here's my game story and a nice photo by S-R's Jesse Tinsley of Steven Gray shooting a 3-pointer in Gonzaga's 74-61 win over Portland.

Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs withstood Portland’s second-half comeback, holding off the Pilots 74-61 Saturday for their seventh straight win. It was the WCC opener for both schools.

Gonzaga cruised to a 47-29 halftime lead by making 50 percent of its shots and 10 of 11 free throws. The Pilots didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half.

But the Pilots (12-4) opened the second half with a 13-1 run to pull within six. GU’s lead eventually melted to 56-53, but the Bulldogs rattled off nine straight points, five by Kelly Olynyk, to rebuild their lead to 12.

Steven Gray led Gonzaga with 19 points, 13 in the first half. He was the only Zag in double figures, but eight others had between 4 and 9 points.

Nemanja Mitrovic paced Portland with 16 points, but the Pilots were stung by 20 turnovers. Gonzaga Prep grad Ryan Nicholas scored four points for the Pilots in the last minute.

More in two hours.

Gonzaga and Portland are about 10 minutes from tipping off at the Kennel.

Live updates at Twitter.com/SRjimm, check back here at the final buzzer for a quick recap and then about two hours later for my game story..

GU starters: Gray, Goodson, Sacre, Harris and Keita.

The start of the WCC season means a wider selection of stories around the conference. My WCC preview ran in today's S-R (uncut version is in the previous post).

Elsewhere, Portland, Gonzaga's opponent on Saturday, won 12 pre-conference games; Saint Mary's, which ranks in the top 10 nationally in seven offensive categories, has found another scoring option, Santa Clara lost a scoring option (it's a couple of items down); a ranking of Bay Area teams, and San Diego needs a boost of confidence.

Washington State and Gonzaga have a rematch in women’s basketball this afternoon. The first one in Hawaii was a two-point thriller won by the Zags.

Saint Martin’s is at Eastern Washington tonight after the Eagles’ football playoff game.

Friday night Portland whipped Montana State, with sophomore Sarah Kliewer (Lewis and Clark) coming off the bench for a career high 14 points. That’s more than the two GSL alums, both seniors, combined, MSU’s Lyndi Siedensticker (LC, 8 points) and UP’s Tara Cronin (G-Prep, 5). … Think I missed posting Thursday’s news, another big game for freshman Kate Loper (Post Falls) in Hofstra win.

The other semifinal matchup is set at the WCC men’s tournament. No. 3 Portland defeated San Diego 72-57 late Saturday night. The Pilots advance to take on No. 2 Saint Mary’s. That game follows the Gonzaga-Loyola Marymount contest, which tips at 5:30.

Back with an unedited game story from Gonzaga’s impressive 76-49 dismantling of the Portland Pilots on Thursday.

Read on for the article and check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

(You’ll notice in the previous post that I listed the score as 76-48. It was, for a while, but it was later corrected to 76-49 when the Pilots were awarded a 3-pointer instead of 2-point field goal at the buzzer). 

Tomorrow’s Four Corners page in the S-R will have a quick look at Portland, a couple of GU notes and a feature on reserve center Will Foster (No. 45). There’s also news that Matt Bouldin is a finalist for Lowe’s Senior CLASS award. More on that here.

Read on for much more.

It wasn’t decided until the last shot in the final seconds. Portland’s Jared Stohl missed  an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer and Gonzaga held off the Pilots 81-78 at the Chiles Center.

Unedited game story below and come back for a day-after post tomorrow.

Gonzaga was seemingly in control, leading by 11 with 4:05 remaining, but Portland chipped away and eventually got a last-gasp shot at tying the score. After Bol Kong missed a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds left, Jared Stohl’s turn-around 3-pointer from in front on Portland’s bench bounced off the iron and Gonzaga had a hard-fought 81-78 victory.

Matt Bouldin led GU with 20 points and Elias Harris had 18. Reserves Kelly Olynyk (13) and Kong (12) made big contributions off the bench.

Stohl had six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Robin Smeulders led the Pilots with 24 points.

Back with a gamer in about 90 minutes.

Gonzaga overcame some early foul trouble to starters Steven Gray and Robert Sacre, built an 11-point, saw it dwindle to two before settling for a 42-36 halftime lead.

Gray picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds and Sacre went to the bench with two fouls at the 11-minute mark. Elias Harris and Matt Bouldin carried the offense, combining for 25 points, and reserve forward Kelly Olynyk chipped in seven points.Bouldin was credited with six assists.

Portland’s Jared Stohl made three 3-pointers — two from 23-24 feet — to fuel a Portland rally that trimmed GU’s 28-17 lead to 32-30. Harris made two free throws and Bouldin hit two 3s and another jumper to restore a 10-point lead. The Pilots closed within six on Kramer Knutson’s putback and T.J. Campbell’s two free throws with less than a second remaining.

Gonzaga made 16 of 23 shots (69.6 percent). Portland hit 13 of 27 (48.1 percent).

The Chiles Center is filling up — there’s a sizable number of Zag fans, as usual. It’s already been an eventful day. I had the obligatory wireless problems at the arena. Those are fixed, as of this second, but we’ll keep this post short. Saw a Mercedes that was either on fire or had a smoke machine attached to the back end this afternoon. Saw a fender bender about 200 yards from the Chiles about 90 minutes ago..

But we’ve arrived safely, thanks to a trusty Chevy Cobalt. Watched the Pilots warmup and they don’t miss many shots, open or when they were messing around 1-on-1. We’ll see how the Zags do defending the perimeter.

Back at half, wireless willing.

I have a minute or two before boarding a plane for Portland, so I thought I’d post the view from Portland, where the Oregonian had this preview and capsule look at tonight’s game with Gonzaga.

Check back before tip off.

Back with a Gonzaga-Portland preview that will run in Saturday’s S-R. We touch on GU’s tough three-game stretch to open the WCC, Portland’s perimeter prowess and the Pilots’ experience.

Also, Oklahoma lost something else when it was thumped by Gonzaga on Dec. 31. Sooners’ players lost the rights to use their locker room and OU practice gear (which probably doesn’t sit too well with Nike). Read more here.

Eastern Washington opened its men’s basketball season on Saturday by losing at home to Portland 64-58.  An unedited version of the game story that will run in Sunday morning’s S-R can be found below, and you can read the gamer supplied by Eastern’s sports information department here.

It is obvious the Eagles have upgraded their athleticism with some outstanding young guards, but they once again struggled to score against the Pilots.

Read on for more details, and feel free to leave any comments you might have about this year’s team here.

Also, check back tomorrow for more postgame comments and thoughts, along with links to related stories.

These 8 p.m. starts aren’t real conducive to gathering post-game notes and quotes, but we did get about 10 minutes of interview time following Gonzaga’s 93-78 win over Portland on Thursday in an entertaining men’s basketball game.

Here are links to the Oregonian’s Ryan White and Jim Beseda, and the Portland Tribune’s gamer and column.  

Read on my day after post.

Back with my unedited game story from Gonzaga’s 93-78 win over Portland on Thursday. Read below for more, and check back Friday morning for a day-after post.