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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan

Current Position: sports writer

Jim Meehan joined The Spokesman-Review in 1990. Jim is currently a reporter for the Sports Desk and covers Gonzaga University basketball, Spokane Empire football, college volleyball and golf.

All Stories

Sports

Regional next for Cards

North Idaho College’s basketball teams face different paths as they try to advance to their respective NJCAA tournaments. The 19th-ranked NIC women (23-6) tied for second in the Scenic West Athletic Conference but lost the tiebreaker to College of Southern Idaho. Third-seeded NIC faces No. 6 Colorado Northwestern in a first-round Region 18 tournament game today at College of Eastern Utah in Price. If NIC wins, it’ll face No. 2 Southern Idaho in Friday’s semifinals.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Everyone plays, contributes during Gonzaga’s Senior Night victory

It wasn’t a designed play for the three seniors on Senior Night, but it turned out pretty well. Early in the second half, Matt Bouldin missed a jump shot, Will Foster tracked down the rebound and fed Chris Pontarolo-Maag for a 6-footer in the lane for the walk-on’s first basket of the season. It had no bearing on the outcome – Gonzaga led by as many as 37 and crushed Cal State Bakersfield 78-59 Tuesday before a crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center – but it seemed appropriate on a night when the seniors were honored with pre- and postgame ceremonies.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Shed no tears for seniors

The trio made the obligatory Senior Night guarantee: No tears during pre-game ceremonies. “I won’t be crying or anything like that,” said Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin, following Saturday’s win over San Francisco. “I’m sure I’ll feel something, but it hasn’t hit me yet. I’m sure it’ll hit me the next few days.”

Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

WCC domination for GU

After a one-year absence, Gonzaga is back in its customary position of dominating the annual West Coast Conference men’s basketball awards. Senior guard Matt Bouldin was named the WCC player of the year, forward Elias Harris was selected newcomer of the year and Mark Few was chosen coach of the year.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Tasty topping

Senior guard Matt Bouldin left Gonzaga’s locker room with a bag of ice on his right ankle and a net and WCC champions placard in his right hand. Bouldin and the rest of the Bulldogs put in a full day at the office, hitting free throws late and getting a couple of key defensive stops to hold off upset-minded San Francisco 75-69 to secure an outright WCC basketball title in front of 6,000 Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Sports

Cards wing toward nationals

It wasn’t easy in Des Moines, Wash. It certainly won’t be easy in Des Moines, Iowa. The North Idaho College wresting team, fresh from winning its 10th consecutive Region 18 title on Feb. 13 at Highline Community College near Seattle, goes for its 14th national title at the NJCAA tournament this weekend at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Iowa.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Gonzaga makes it 10 WCC championships in a row

This one looked nothing like the first go-around. Gonzaga dominated from start to finish, flattening Santa Clara 88-51 Thursday in front of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center to clinch at least a share of the West Coast Conference men’s basketball championship and the top seed in conference tournament in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs needed a 26-6 finishing kick to rally past Santa Clara 71-64 on the road last month.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

West Coast stranglehold

Streak check. Gonzaga’s run of consecutive NCAA tournaments: 11, and on pace for 12 next month. Gonzaga’s consecutive appearances in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game: 12, and counting. Gonzaga’s string of 20-win seasons: 13, and counting.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Zags roar back

MALIBU, Calif. – For the first nine minutes of the game, Gonzaga shot and Pepperdine took the ball out of the net. During that same time frame, when Pepperdine shot and made it (which was infrequent) or missed it, the Bulldogs were off and running. When the Waves turned the ball over, Gonzaga was off and running.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Zags look to bounce back vs. Waves

MALIBU, Calif. – The Gonzaga Bulldogs have lost five men’s basketball games this season. Their game-after responses to those four setbacks were wins by margins of 35 (IPFW), 39 (Augustana), 42 (Eastern Washington) and 27 (Portland). The Bulldogs’ resolve will be tested again tonight by Pepperdine, 48 hours after falling to Loyola Marymount 74-66. Gonzaga didn’t shoot particularly well, didn’t defend particularly well and didn’t register high on the hustle meter.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Lions show Zags the door

LOS ANGELES – Loyola Marymount was at full strength. Gonzaga appeared to be in slow motion. For the Bulldogs, that wasn’t a winning combination on the road against a hungrier opponent.
Sports >  Spokane Shock

AFL resurfaces with Shock

The Arena Football League is back in business and, its 15 teams and ownership groups hope, built for the long haul. There were a few false starts, figuratively, when it was announced in September that Spokane was joining a new league. At the time, the league office was short on specifics and over the next few months several new teams were added while others departed.
Sports

Too big to fail

Gonzaga found itself in something of an unfamiliar position Saturday – leading big early on. The Bulldogs’ season has been filled with far more close games than blowouts. So when Gonzaga scored the first 19 points and led by 24 midway through the first half, it looked like the Zags might coast to the finish line.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Bulldogs do it all

When Gonzaga beat Saint Mary’s last month in Moraga, Calif., the Bulldogs’ offense did the heavy lifting. In the rematch Thursday, Gonzaga’s offense and defense shared the credit as the 16th-ranked Bulldogs pulled away for an 80-61 West Coast Conference men’s basketball victory over the Gaels in front of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Sports

Zags stand alone

It took nearly 25 minutes, but the Gonzaga Bulldogs finally put the clamps on Omar Samhan and, essentially, Saint Mary’s. The Bulldogs, riding a balanced offense and a defense that grew stingier as the game progressed, pulled away for an 80-61 men’s basketball victory Thursday in front of a packed house of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

WCC’s best meet again

The game, of course, is big. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s collide tonight at the McCarthey Athletic Center to determine who holds the steering wheel in the West Coast Conference race. And then there’s the game within the game. The last time these two met, both shot at least 60 percent from the field in a high-scoring second half as the Bulldogs held off the Gaels 89-82 in Moraga, Calif., on Jan. 14. Inflicting most of the damage: Gonzaga’s Elias Harris, 31 points and 13 rebounds, and Omar Samhan of Saint Mary’s, 31 points and 12 rebounds. The two spent part of the game guarding each other.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

First in WCC on line

Since Gonzaga defeated Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif., nearly a month ago, the Bulldogs have endured their share of mostly ups and a few downs. The Gaels, meanwhile, have been monotonously efficient. They’ve won six straight WCC games, the last five by 12-18 points. They’ve scored between 71-88 points and allowed between 56-72.
Sports

Quickly back to business for Bulldogs

One of Gonzaga’s bigger wins of the basketball season elicited the briefest of celebrations. Shortly after throttling Portland 76-49 on Thursday, Gonzaga’s attention was already turning toward a fast-approaching nonconference date with Memphis. The teams collide today at 1 p.m. at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, roughly 39 hours after the Zags left the McCarthey Athletic Center court Thursday night.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Zags eject Pilots

The defense didn’t rest. Of the many things that went right for Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday, it was their wire-to-wire adhesive defense that fueled a surprisingly easy 76-49 West Coast Conference men’s basketball victory over Portland in front of a noisy crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

No tall tales from this Zag

Gonzaga’s Will Foster is big and blunt. Ask the 7-foot-5, 270-pound reserve center a question and his response comes unfiltered. He speaks openly about intense growing pains as a youngster, his three-plus years of minimal playing time and the several times he had his bags packed, ready to transfer to another school.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

San Francisco takes down Gonzaga in OT

SAN FRANCISCO – Many of Gonzaga’s recent West Coast Conference men’s basketball games have followed a similar pattern. The Bulldogs haven’t necessarily been at the top of their game, but they’ve found a way to win. It looked like that might be the case again Saturday night, but San Francisco’s Dior Lowhorn took advantage of a second chance, hitting a 3-pointer that forced overtime and the Dons went on to upset the 13th-ranked Bulldogs 81-77 in front of 4,114 at War Memorial Gym, setting off a storm-the-court celebration led by a small, but vocal, USF student section.
Sports

Gonzaga rallies from 14-point deficit to tame upset-minded Broncos

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Unusual things seem to happen when Gonzaga plays at the Leavey Center. Two years ago, it was Brody Angley’s inexplicable foul on Steven Gray 70 feet from Gonzaga’s basket with Santa Clara nursing a two-point lead in the last seconds. Gray made both free throws and Gonzaga went on to win in double overtime. Last year it was a technical foul assessed to the Broncos when a fan hurled a plastic bottle onto the court, helping GU stretch its lead from seven to 12 en route to an 81-73 win.
Sports >  Gonzaga basketball

Zags tough it out at Santa Clara

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Gonzaga’s toughness was tested Thursday night. And for the first 27 minutes of a physical contest with Santa Clara, the Bulldogs didn’t exactly achieve passing marks. But the Bulldogs strung together an impressive final 13 minutes and it was enough to wash away a 13-point deficit as Gonzaga escaped with a 71-64 West Coast Conference men’s basketball victory in front of 4,700 at the Leavey Center.