Feels strange to wake up in my own bed on a Sunday morning after a Saturday road game. With Gonzaga's 1:30 Saturday matinee against San Francisco, I was able to catch a flight to Seattle — where I filed my game story around 8ish — and then on to Spokane about midnight.

Interesting game at USF's War Memorial Gym as Gonzaga put on a clinic early, endured a Dons' rally and put the game away with a solid final 7 minutes. The result, a 71-61 victory at a building where Gonzaga had dropped its last three games vs. USF.

We'll begin my day-after post with links: My game story, San Francisco Chronicle and AP.

More below.

Gonzaga built a big early lead, watched USF pull even in the second half, then regrouped to claim a 71-61 victory at War Memorial Gym on Saturday. Kelly Olynyk poured in 26 points and Elias Harris added 17 points and 13 boards.

My unedited game story is below. Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Gonzaga didn't have much time to celebrate its big win over Saint Mary's. The Bulldogs left McKeon Pavilion around 11 p.m. Thursday and will be back on the floor against San Francisco at 1:30 Saturday for a rare afternoon game, roughly a 38-hour turnaround.

The fifth-ranked Zags are the highest ranked team to play at San Francisco since No. 3 Santa Clara visited the Hilltop on Feb. 15, 1969. GU has lost its last three games to USF at War Memorial Gym, two in overtime.

Read on for my unedited game preview.

Good morning. We'll get right to it because I get to be a fan of my kid's games today!

The links: My game story, John Blanchette column, Tyler Tjomsland's photos and AP here and here.

Read on for my day-after San Francisco post. 

Gonzaga got off to another quick start, endured another somewhat sloppy second half and won another WCC home game. The Bulldogs knocked off San Francisco 66-52 on Saturday, following a similar pattern to their two previous conference home games.

GU outscored Saint Mary's, BYU and USF 129-70 in the first half. The Bulldogs have been outscored 123-103 in the second half of those three games — Saint Mary's by 13, USF by 8, after scoring the game's final 9 points in the last 1:45. The Dons never seriously threatened the Zags, whose lead never dropped below 15.

My unedited game story is below. Day-after post coming Sunday morning.

S-R photojournalist Tyler Tjomsland covered GU's win over San Francisco.  Check out a big picture gallery of his photos.

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — We're back at the apartment after spending the last two-plus hours at Applebee's, where we watched the Cougars beat San Francisco, 89-75, in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational. And just because we're not on the road with the team doesn't mean we can't pass along our postgame review. Read on.

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — The Washington State men's basketball team will continue its season with a first-round game in the College Basketball Invitational on Tuesday at San Francisco. We've posted a short story below.

I wrote nearly all of this before 10 a.m, but tight connections kept me from posting it until now.

Entertaining game last night with a closing stretch that pretty much went opposite of the first 36 minutes.

Gonzaga and San Francisco weren’t any trouble scoring – outside of the Bulldogs’ season-high 22 turnovers obviously – as GU took a 65-64 lead with 3:45 left. Both teams were shooting in the mid-50 percent range before defenses took over late, with the exception of Rashad Green’s game-deciding 7-footer in the lane with 3.3 seconds left.

You know the day-after drill.

The links: My game story, San Francisco Chronicle and A.P. Elsewhere, Saint Mary’s lost again in a non-conference matchup with Murray State, but GU’s loss leaves the Gaels alone in first place and two wins from ending the Zags’ run of WCC titles at 11. BYU joined Gonzaga in second place at 11-3 with a road win over Santa Clara.

Read on.   

The commute from my doorstep to the McCarthey Athletic Center took exactly an hour, essentially double what it usually takes. Unofficial count of rigs in the ditches: six, three on I-90, rest on side streets. We'll see how the storm impacts attendance, but the Kennel Club is close to full while the rest of the sections are sloowwlllyyyy filling up.

Follow me on twitter.com/srjimm for in-game updates. I'll post my game story here (and there) at about 10:30.

Back with my game story from Gonzaga's hard-fought 71-67 victory over San Francisco. Crazy game, wild conclusion. The unedited version is below.

Check back in the morning for John Blanchette's column and Chris Anderson's photo gallery.

Here's my short preview of the GU-USF game that will run in Saturday's S-R.

Back with my game story from GU's 96-91 loss to San Francisco — one of the wildest games I've ever covered. You can read it below.

I'll be back tomorrow with a day-after post.

Cody Doolin's three-point play with 4.1 seconds gave USF a 96-91 victory over Gonzaga on Saturday night.

Doolin was fouled by Mathis Monninghoff while hitting a left-handed runner on the left side of the lane. He made the free throw to give USF a 94-91 lead. Steven Gray missed two free throws, the second intentionally, and Doolin sealed it with two free throws.

Gonzaga lost back-to-back WCC games for the first time since the 1999-2000 season when it fell to Pepperdine and San Diego.

Demetri Goodson and Gray each had 20 points. Elias Harris had 15 points and Robert Sacre 14 points and nine boards.

Gonzaga was stung by errant free-throw shooting near the end of regulation and in overtime. Manny Arop made just 1 of 4 late in regulation and he also missed a pair in overtime.

Doolin led USF with 23 points. All five USF starters scored in double figures. It was the second straight year San Francisco has defeated GU in overtime at War Memorial Gymnasium.

More in about two hours.

This isn't what Gonzaga envisioned as it ventured out for its first road trip of the WCC season. But the Zags (13-6, 3-1 WCC), after losing 85-71 at Santa Clara on Thursday, now take on San Francisco (9-10, 3-1) with solo second place on the line. The Dons knocked off Portland on Thursday in their WCC home opener. USF has already won two WCC road games (Santa Clara and San Diego).

No. 22 Saint Mary's (17-3, 5-0) lost on the road to Vanderbilt today.The Gaels visit GU on Thursday.

USF made 17 of 27 shots in the second half in beating the Pilots. Guard Michael Williams led the way with 18 points, followed by guard  Cody Doolin's 14 (4 of 5 on 3s), beefy forward Perris Blackwell's 12 points and 10 boards, and guard Marko Petrovic's 10 points. USF won despite being outboarded 41-25, mainly because it shot extremely well (57.1 percent on FGs and 45.5 percent on 3s) and had a 26-18 edge in points in the paint. The Dons scored 50 points in the second half.

The Zags, wearing black uniforms tonight, just left the floor after some pre-game drills. David Stockton was bummed because his dunk attempt rattled in and out, but he followed it up by making a one-handed dunk.

Remember in-game updates at twitter.com/srjimm. Check back here at the final buzzer for a short recap and then later for a complete game story.

Gonzaga shot it well, rebounded it well, but turned the ball over frequently, which pretty much kept the Bulldogs from grabbing a bigger lead against San Francisco.

GU leads 41-37 at half after making 17 of 26 shots (65.4 percent) and holding a 19-10 rebounding edge. But the Bulldogs started the game with turnovers on their first four possessions and finished the half with 12 TOs. USF converted those miscues into 18 points.

Freshman guard Demetri Goodson came off the bench to score 12 points. He made 5 of 6 shots, including the first two 3-pointers of his career. His previous season high was eight points against Utah. Josh Heytvelt added eight points and Matt Bouldin 7, but he connected on just 2 of 7 shots.

Dior Lowhorn started 1 of 5, but made 5 of his next 6 shots. He has 15 points at half.