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

Zags Feast On San Francisco

With Gonzaga coming just one 3-point basket from tying the NCAA record of 23, one could consider the Bulldogs’ 106-67 win over San Francisco as a classic.

In fact, it was a Big Classic.

And aside from the few USF fans on hand, the most startled man in the stands was Dan Nagy, owner of five Wendy’s restaurants in Spokane - a brave man who dishes out coupons for free hamburgers whenever GU makes nine 3-pointers in a game.

He arrived a few minutes late for Thursday’s game and GU already had seven 3-pointers. By the time he settled into his seat, GU had served up the requisite nine 3s - less than 12 minutes into the game.

When this contest in front of 3,304 in the Martin Centre was finally in the bag, GU’s John Rillie had made seven 3s, David Cole had six, and Kyle Dixon, Jon Kinloch and Kevin Williams each had three.

The Bulldogs (6-7 West Coast Conference, 17-8) needed only two 3s in the final 8 minutes to match the record (set by Lamar in 1993 and matched by Kansas in 1994), but GU coach Dan Fitzgerald urged them to work the ball inside - leaving some fans grumbling about the tactic.

But Fitzgerald refused to hot-dog it.

“I won’t do that at somebody’s expense; the game is bigger than all of us and I’ll never do that,” Fitzgerald said of exploiting an advantage to get a record. “I don’t think that has any place in the game.”

“We knew about the record,” said Rillie, who finished with 21 points after missing only four of 11 3-point tries. “But you play in Fitz’s system here and it works and you know he’s not the kind of guy to go for something like that. It’s not a big thing, nobody’s going to worry about it.”

Cole, who made six of 12 3s on the way to a career-high 22 points (in just 25 minutes of play), agreed that the record was secondary. “A win is a win and that’s what is important to us,” Cole said. “We want to go in there and score, but we don’t want to make fools of ourselves, either.”

Still, the 22 3-pointers in 37 attempts set a WCC record (previously 16, by the sharp-shooting Loyola Marymount team of 1988) and a school record (previously 15, vs. Air Force in December).

“I’d say that this whole team was on fire tonight,” Rillie said. “It must have been fun to watch.”

Not for USF coach Jim Brovelli, who saw his team (4-9, 10-17) get in a pickle in a hurry. “That’s such a great shooting team, we told our guys to expect it, so you extend your defense,” Brovelli said. “But there’s only so far you can go and they were hitting some extremely deep 3s.”

GU, having won eight of its last nine games, is certainly a team on a roll. A win Saturday against San Diego will allow the Bulldogs to finish fourth in the WCC after an 0-6 start.

Nagy even has some advice for Fitzgerald heading into that contest. “I think he’s got a lot of good big men and he needs to work it down inside a little more,” he said. And about the 3-pointers? “I don’t mind if they stick at eight.”

Gonzaga 106, San Francisco 67

SAN FRANCISCO

Brovelli 5-9 4-5 19, Walker 6-19 5-6 19, Wallace 3-5 2-2 8, Paul 0-5 0-0 0, Duggan 4-11 0-2 8, Fong 0-1 2-2 2, Galloway 5-8 1-3 11, Campbell 0-2 0-0 0, Brass 0-0 0-0 0, Washington 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 23-65 14-20 67.

GONZAGA

Dixon 7-9 3-4 20, Rillie 7-14 0-0 21, Rogers 2-5 0-0 4, Kinloch 5-8 0-0 13, Rubright 0-2 0-0 0, Morgan 2-10 1-2 5, Nemeth 0-0 1-2 1, Cole 8-15 0-0 22, Bond 0-4 0-0 0, Snider 1-5 3-6 5, Williams 6-9 0-0 15. Totals 38-81 8-14 106.

Halftime-Gonzaga 55, San Francisco 35. 3-Point goals-San Francisco 7-21 (Brovelli 5-7, Walker 2-6, Paul 0-2, Duggan 0-3, Campbell 0-1, Washington 0-2), Gonzaga 22-37 (Dixon 3-3, Rillie 7-11, Kinloch 3-4, Rubright 0-1, Cole 6-12, Williams 3-6). Fouled out-None. Rebounds- San Francisco 41 (Walker, Galloway 8), Gonzaga 52 (Morgan 9). Assists-San Francisco 14 (Walker 5), Gonzaga 22 (Dixon 9). Total fouls-San Francisco 14, Gonzaga 20. A-3,304.