Santa Clara win was no fluke

Don’t even think about an asterisk.

It was a Big Monday that quickly morphed into Black Monday, an inferable if not welcome coda to Gonzaga’s lost weekend.

And you know what? The end of the Bulldogs’ remarkable 50-game home court winning streak had virtually nothing to do with the prominent suspension of you know who, and everything to do with the Santa Clara Broncos who on Monday night owned the Zags in every respect.

A 13-0 blitz to open the game? Check.

An early butt-kicking on the boards? Check.

A ruthless dissection of Gonzaga’s perimeter defense? Check.

A single two-point basket for GU in the first half? Check.

So discombobulated did the Broncos have the Zags that Gonzaga – the No. 3 team in the nation in free-throw shooting – missed 14 of their first 24 tries at the foul line.

About the only thing the Broncos didn’t do was tag McCarthey Athletic Center with graffiti on the way out of town after their 84-73 blistering of the Bulldogs – not that you’d expect such a thing. Broncos coach Dick Davey always gives as good as he gets, and does both graciously.

“We caught them short-handed so maybe we had a little advantage – well, not an advantage, but they’re struggling a little bit right now,” he said. “And maybe we got lucky a little bit.”

Well, it’s lucky to be better, that’s for certain.

This just in: as the West Coast Conference is currently constituted, the Broncos are not only alone atop the standings, but they’re the best team by an aesthetic measure, too. It’s been a good spell since that theory has been advanced in this league.

Davey’s final time through Spokane – he has been helpfully nudged into retirement by an administration bereft of both gratitude and logic – had to be his most satisfying, and not just because the Kennel Club made him a classy body-paint greeting card and Gonzaga got him a going-away present.

The Zags gave Davey a fly rod, he gave them the shaft, to paraphrase Jerry Reed.

Oh, there was a night 12 years ago when a certain someone named Steve Nash went off for 35 of his 40 points in the second half and the Broncos tripped Gonzaga in overtime, 73-68. That was in the old Kennel – and ended a 34-game home-court winning streak by the Zags, and in those days that seemed like Everest.

“That was a pretty good effort, as well,” Davey recalled with a smile. “But I’m proud of this team because they work pretty hard – and I’ve got a lot of confidence in them right now.”

That confidence really didn’t ebb even during a stirring little Gonzaga comeback as the game clock dipped under 10 minutes, and the Bulldogs actually got Santa Clara’s comfortable lead down to a nervous six points a couple of times.

But then they forgot to keep getting stops, in particular failing to locate the Broncos’ Spokane connection, point guard Danny Pariseau – or maybe not accepting that he’s grown up some from the nondescript player he was at Eastern Washington.

In the end, the point spread was everything it should have been if not all it could have been.

Maybe the same can be said for the winning streak.

Fifty games is a hell of a run, and 38 to christen McCarthey – the third longest arena-opening streak in NCAA Division I history (behind UCLA’s 51 at Pauley Pavilion and Providence’s 41 at what is now Dunkin’ Donuts Center) – is every bit as impressive. Coach Mark Few and all but a couple of these current Zags were part of the group last year that pulled off a lifetime worth of miracles in the space of a week – against USF, San Diego and finally Loyola Marymount in the WCC tournament title game. So they know a little bit about luck.

In that respect, better that it ends this decisively. There will be regrets, but no doubts.

“It hurts a lot because we obviously gave up our home streak,” said senior Derek Raivio. “But you know what? It’s going to make us come together tighter. We had some strange things happen the last couple of days. We’ve just got to learn from this.”

Well, OK, there will always be a little doubt. When standout forward Josh Heytvelt and redshirting freshman Theo Davis were arrested Friday night on felony drug possession charges, it surely sent the Zags off on an emotional Tilt-a-Whirl.

Call it the five stages of Gonzaga’s grief – anger, denial, plea bargaining, depression and, this night, acceptance.

And they’re not the first team that’s had to come to terms with acceptance in this building.

“I really have a lot of respect for what they’ve done here and for Mark – and you know how I feel about Fitz (former coach Dan Fitzgerald) and the guys who were here before,” said Davey, whose Broncos had lost 13 straight games to GU. “They kicked our butts for years and years and finally we snuck one out.

“Let’s face it – if you add up the numbers, they don’t add up real well for us. But we got one tonight and that’s great.”

No fluke, no funny business. And no asterisk.