Zags Lose Touch, Fall To Huskies Bulldogs Rally After Bad Start, But Bow 62-58 In Title Game

For Gonzaga, the problems started when the bus driver didn’t show up.

He got confused about the schedule, and the Bulldogs arrived at Hec Edmundson Pavilion shortly before they were to meet the Washington Huskies in the title game of the U.S. West Cellular Air Time Tournament.

They finally made it to the gym.

They left their shooting touch elsewhere.

GU rallied from a deficit that reached 14 points in the first half, but was ultimately downed when UW guard Bryant Boston fired in a leaner with 8 seconds left to give the Huskies a 62-58 win.

But the Bulldogs (6-3) did so many things poorly on offense, it became a tribute to their defense that they stayed competitive at all.

“You can’t go 13 for 25 (from the line) and 3 for 17 (3-pointers) and win,” GU coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “You certainly can’t go 13 for 25 and win on the road. But we’re playing great defense. If you’d told me they’d only get 62, I’d have been sure we won.”

When the grim statistics were compiled, they showed GU netting only 37.5 percent from the field, 52 percent from the line and 17.7 percent from 3-point range.

The off-guards were appropriately titled.

“Our off-guards go 0-for-7 (3-pointers),” Fitzgerald said of Kevin Williams and Lorenzo Rollins. “We have to get better than that.”

Still, Fitzgerald came away “very pleased with our effort.”

That’s because they came back from so far down.

“This really could have been a disaster, the wheels were off,” he said. “But we got them back on. This wasn’t just a TKO, this was one of those (Peter) McNeely deals - 89 seconds and we’re done.”

The Bulldogs missed their first seven shots and had four turnovers before scoring their first points when Scott Snider hit a reverse layup with 5 minutes gone.

A good portion of the Bulldogs’ problems were forced by tenacious defense by the UW backcourt. And when starting point guard Kyle Dixon headed to the sidelines with his third foul only 9 minutes into the game, Bulldog prospects appeared dim.

But senior wing Jon Kinloch made 4 of 5 shots to have 11 of his 15 points by halftime.

In the second half, the interior play of GU’s Paul Rogers and Snider again brought the Bulldogs back.

Early in the second half, Rogers made a steal, dribbled up court with remarkable skill for a 7-footer and deftly fed Snider for a breakaway layup.

Later, the 6-1 Dixon came up with a steal and drove in for a surprising dunk.

Such plays helped them chip away at the deficit until they got to within one point, 55-54, with 4:07 left.

A crucial 3-pointer by Husky Mark Sanford with 1:35 left gave UW a thin cushion, but Snider came back with a rebound bucket at :45 to trim it to 60-58.

On the Huskies’ final possession, Boston was told to come off a high-post screen and create some offense. He did exactly that.

As he left his feet in the lane, he intended to pass to teammate Jason Hamilton under the basket, but Hamilton turned away from him. “So I just threw it up and it went in,” Boston said.

“This was really an important game for us tonight,” UW coach Bob Bender said. “I think (Gonzaga) is the kind of team you want in your tournament. They’re really good, they’re tough and they’re a class act.”

Kinloch and Rogers shared GU scoring honors with 15, while Snider added 13 points, seven boards and four assists.

Sanford paced the Huskies with 16 points.

“It was really good we were able to show some (character) and come back,” Rogers said. “But we wanted this - this one and WSU we wanted and we didn’t get either, so we pretty much failed in that regard.”

Snider, Rogers, Sanford, Boston and South Alabama’s Brian McGovern were named to the alltournament team.

McGovern shook off a bad reaction from an early-morning insulin injection - he was on the verge of slipping in a coma when his roommate called paramedics - to score 22 points and lead USA to a 67-55 win over Lehigh in the consolation game.

Washington 62, Gonzaga 58

Gonzaga (6-3) - Kinloch 5-12 2-4 15, Snider 5-11 3-7 13, Rogers 5-9 5-8 15, Dixon 3-7 3-5 9, Williams 0-5 0-0 0, Rollins 2-8 0-0 4, Morgan 1-3 0-0 2, Bond 0-0 0-0 0, Nemeth 0-0 0-1 0, Leasure 0-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-56 13-25 58.

Washington (6-2) - Sanford 7-14 0-0 16, MacCulloch 3-33 1-2 7, Hamilton 3-8 0-2 7, Boston 5-14 3-3 13, Booker 0-5 0-0 0, Hartman 5-7 0-0 12, Fermerling 2-4 0-0 4, Amos 1-2 0-1 2, Watts 0-4 1-2 1, Lopez 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 5-10 62.

Halftime-Washington 34, Gonzaga 25. 3-Point goals- Gonzaga 3-17 (Kinloch 3-8, Leasure 0-1, Dixon 0-1, Rollins 0-2, Williams 0-5), Washington 5-13 (Hartman 2-2, Sanford 2-4, Hamilton 1-1, Watts 0-1, Booker 0-1, Boston 0-4). Fouled out- MacCulloch, Booker. Rebounds-Gonzaga 34 (Snider 7), Washington 40 (Hartman 7). Assists-Gonzaga 12 (Snider 4), Washington 13 (Booker 4). Total fouls-Gonzaga 16, Washington 23. A-4,236.

, DataTimes