Shaky but standing

Gonzaga coach Mark Few found himself in a difficult situation following Wednesday night’s ragged, 89-80, men’s basketball win over Portland State.

While holding court with the media after the game, Few struggled to give an honest assessment of his own team’s shabby play without minimizing the Vikings’ considerable effort.

“I thought Portland State played great tonight,” Few said after watching his sixth-ranked Zags (4-1) run their home winning streak to 27 by turning back the Vikings (2-4) in front of a sellout crowd of 6,000 in the McCarthey Athletic Center. “But we allowed them to play great.

“They beat us to a lot of balls, and they played more physical than we did. They basically came in here and took the game to us – for portions of it, anyway.”

The Bulldogs, fresh off an impressive, second-place finish in last week’s EA Sports Maui Invitational, didn’t show much in building a 41-32 halftime lead. But after letting PSU score six unanswered points to open the second half, they put together an impressive, 9-minute surge that produced a 72-50 advantage with just more than 10 minutes left in the game.

Junior forward Adam Morrison, who finished with a game-high 34 points, scored 11 of those during a 27-10 run, while senior center J.P. Batista, who finished with 21 points and nine rebounds, added seven.

But after Morrison came up with a steal and lay-in to push the lead to 77-58 with 6:25 remaining, the Bulldogs did not make another field goal.

“We had a stretch, especially there in the second half, where we played very good,” Few said. “And then we just relaxed and started feeling pretty good about ourselves. And (PSU) did a great job of sticking with it and made it a game at the end.”

The defending Big Sky Conference champion Vikings, behind junior point guard Ryan Sommer’s 18 points and five assists, closed to within 77-70 on a pair of Sommer free throws with 2:03 remaining.

But GU, despite suffering through a 5-minute scoring drought, was able to choke off PSU’s comeback bid by making 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch.

When asked if he had been concerned about having to face the Vikings between the Maui Invitational and Sunday’s showdown against cross-state rival Washington in Seattle, Few said, “I have a concern for every game.

“I know, in Division I, any team is capable of beating you. I don’t think everybody understands that. Usually our players do a pretty good job of understanding it, but I don’t think they did tonight.

“Again, that’s not taking anything away from Portland State. They’re a good team and they’re going to have a good year.”

GU junior forward Sean Mallon, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, wasn’t near as diplomatic as his coach.

“We didn’t play well at all,” he said. “And you can’t blame it on Hawaii or anything like that. We just didn’t play very well, and, obviously, that’s got to change a lot before Sunday.”

First-year PSU coach Ken Bone, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant under Lorenzo Romar at Washington, said he was proud of the way his Vikings fought back against the heavily favored Zags.

“We had three seniors in at the time, and they showed a lot of character in just battling,” he explained. “It would have been easy to throw in the towel against a team the caliber of Gonzaga – how good they are and playing on their home court. But our guys battled back.”

In the end, however, the Zags’ physical superiority and the offensive production of Morrison, who moved to No. 23 on GU’s career scoring list with 1,076 points, proved too much for the Vikings to overcome.

“Adam’s points were huge tonight,” Mallon admitted. “Without him, we don’t win this game.”

Senior small forward Erroll Knight was not on the Gonzaga bench Wednesday night. According to Few, Knight was released from the hospital earlier in the day after having undergone a second arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Monday.

Few said Knight, who has not played this season, has developed an infection in the knee and could remain sidelined for some time.

“It’s going to be awhile,” Few said. “It’s an infection they’re having to treat intravenously, so it’s serious stuff. But they seem to have it under control.”

Also missing from the Zags’ bench was Ronny Turiaf, last year’s West Coast Conference player of the year and second-round draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers, who has been working with his old team while recovering from open heart surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root.

Turiaf, Few said, returned to the Stanford University Medical Center, where his surgery was performed, earlier this week for a checkup.

Gonzaga 89, Portland St. 80

Percentages: FG .464, FT .625. 3-Point Goals: 13-23, .565 (Kamara 5-6, Schroeder 5-8, Hollist 2-4, Neeley 1-2, Sommer 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 1 (Washington). Turnovers: 20 (Washington 7, Hollist 4, Kamara 3, Sommer 2, Neeley 2, Schroeder, Sconiers). Steals: 5 (Schroeder 2, Washington, Sommer, Neeley). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .544, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 3-15, .200 (A.Morrison 2-4, Raivio 1-5, Mallon 0-1, Altidor-Cespedes 0-1, Doudney 0-1, Pargo 0-3). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 2 (Batista, Pendergraft). Turnovers: 13 (Pargo 4, A.Morrison 2, Batista 2, Mallon 2, Altidor-Cespedes, Gurganious, Pendergraft). Steals: 10 (A.Morrison 3, Batista 3, Pargo 3, Pendergraft). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Gonzaga 41, Portland State 32. A–6,000.