December 3, 2009 in Sports

Bouldin scores career-high 28 to rally GU over WSU

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For the third time this season, Gonzaga found itself trailing by double digits. This time it was Washington State that had the Bulldogs down by as many as 15 in the first half and by 12 midway through the second.

And for the third time, the Bulldogs roared back, overtaking WSU behind senior Matt Bouldin’s career-high 28 points and Elias Harris’ 21-point, nine-rebound second half for a 74-69 men’s basketball victory in front of a packed house of 6,000 Wednesday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The 17th-ranked Bulldogs (6-1) keep talking about being tougher than recent GU teams. They offered another piece of evidence in handing the Cougars their first loss of the season.

“I think this is the grittiest team I’ve played on,” said Bouldin, who had 14 points in the first half to keep Gonzaga within striking range. “We’ve got a lot of guys that love to bang. I couldn’t say that in years’ past maybe, but it’s sort of becoming a staple for us.”

Washington State (6-1) dominated in all phases in the first half, even with a modest contribution from Klay Thompson, who entered the game as the nation’s leading scorer at 28.3 points per game. The Cougars erased a 9-7 deficit with a 19-3 burst, triggered by Marcus Capers’ tip-in and dunk.

Gonzaga was outrebounded 25-14, and 12 of the Cougars’ boards came at the offensive end.

That led to a 10-0 edge in second-chance points. Gonzaga’s nine turnovers, several on misguided post-entry passes, helped WSU to a 17-6 edge in points off turnovers.

Bouldin hit two late 3-pointers to narrow WSU’s lead to 39-27 at the break. He kept up the pace in the second half and Harris, who, along with center Robert Sacre was neutralized in the first 20 minutes, took over in the paint.

“We got probably the most courageous performance I’ve seen in this building from one of our players,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of Bouldin, who was 7 of 12 on 3-pointers. “He wasn’t getting a whole lot of help there for large stretches. And it was just a whale of a second half for Elias.”

The two combined for 35 of Gonzaga’s 47 second-half points. Bouldin had 12 points, Harris eight and reserve forward Kelly Olynyk six as GU used a 26-6 run to pull in front 72-64.

Harris gave Gonzaga the lead for good, 65-64, with a dunk on a nice feed from Grant Gibbs and Olynyk followed with a dunk on a pass from Bouldin.

“He lit us up,” WSU coach Ken Bone said of Bouldin.

Meanwhile, Steven Gray offset a rough offensive night by clamping down on Thompson, who had a season-low 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting. WSU had eight players score in the first half, but points didn’t come easy in the second half.

“We need to learn how to maintain the intensity we had in the first half,” Capers said. “If we had played like that for 40 minutes, we would have probably beaten them by 20. We didn’t. We played 32 minutes.”

Harris, much like his team, has been prone to slow starts and big finishes.

“Everyone was sleeping in the first half, dreaming,” Harris said. “First of all, I tried to rebound in the second half – that was our biggest problem in the first half. After that, they fed me in the post and I tried to attack the basket.”

For key stretches in the second half, GU had four freshmen (Harris, Olynyk, Gibbs and Manny Arop) and Bouldin on the floor.

“We had some guys that mentally we’re analyzing and not doing much,” Few said. “They were very tentative and just getting beat to balls. Those freshmen just went out and played. If they made a mistake they played through it. And through it all, the story was Matt and obviously Elias in the second half.”

Gonzaga entertains Wake Forest on Saturday while WSU visits Kansas State.

Gonzaga 74, Washington St. 69

		FG	FT	Reb
WSU (6-1)	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Casto	31	4-8	2-2	6-10	0	3	10
Capers	35	3-8	0-2	5-7	1	3	6
Thompson	39	6-21	3-7	3-6	0	2	15
Moore	23	3-9	3-4	0-0	2	2	10
Lodwick	15	2-3	0-0	0-2	0	1	5
Koprivica	25	3-6	2-3	1-4	4	4	8
Thames	16	3-5	2-2	0-3	1	2	11
Watson	3	1-1	0-0	1-1	0	0	2
Harthun	6	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	2
Enquist	7	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	4	0
Totals	200	26-63	12-20	17-36	8	21	69

Percentages: FG .413, FT .600. 3-Point Goals: 5-14, .357 (Thompson 0-4, Moore 1-3, Lodwick 1-2, Koprivica 0-2, Thames 3-3). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 4 (Casto 3, Lodwick). Turnovers: 15 (Casto 3, Thompson 3, Koprivica 4, Thames 2, Enquist). Steals: 13 (Casto 3, Capers 3, Thompson 4, Watson, Harthun, Enquist). Technical Fouls: None.

		FG	FT	Reb
GU (6-1)	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Harris	33	8-11	8-9	4-12	1	3	24
Sacre	20	3-6	0-0	1-2	0	3	6
Goodson	23	1-4	0-2	1-1	2	4	2
Bouldin	40	8-15	5-6	0-5	3	3	28
Gray	34	1-6	2-2	0-3	3	1	4
Arop	8	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Vilarino	6	0-1	0-2	0-0	1	0	0
Gibbs	9	0-0	0-0	0-1	2	2	0
Olynyk	22	2-3	6-8	2-7	1	1	10
Kong	5	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Totals	200	23-47	21-29	1-2	13	18	74

Percentages: FG .489, FT .724. 3-Point Goals: 7-16, .438 (Bouldin 7-12, Gray 0-2, Vilarino 0-1, Kong 0-1). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 5 (Sacre 2, Bouldin, Gray, Arop). Turnovers: 19 (Harris, Sacre 5, Bouldin 2, Gray 6, Arop, Gibbs 2, Olynyk, Team). Steals: 10 (Harris 2, Sacre 2, Bouldin 2, Gray 2, Olynyk 2). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Washington State 39, Gonzaga 27. A–6,000.

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11 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

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  idazag on December 03 at 7:37 a.m.

  The Zags and Cougs gave us a great game last night…As an avid Zag fan I was happy with the outcome…I was not happy when I found out what the Kennel was chanting at DeAngelo Casto…DeAngelo showed class by not responding….As for the Kennel wise-up…..I am glad DeAngelo has found a home at WSU

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  Mister Soap on December 03 at 7:48 a.m.

  Yes, I have to agree, what is up with the GU fans? Did the wine and cheese crowd all of a sudden remember their inner redneck? As for the FSN coverage, can someone put Greg out of his misery, please?

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  Ryan on December 03 at 9:27 a.m.

  Thank you Mr. Soap, Heister's pretty awful. Gonzaga's fans were something else last night. Hats off to WSU for a great game.

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  Richard on December 03 at 9:43 a.m.

  I was at the game last night but didn't hear any of the negative chants from the kennel directed at Casto. Certainly none of them came from season ticket holders (who are the wine and cheese crowd). Remember, these are young people who are probably well lubricated with beer before the game and are
  indulging in often immature behavior and a misguided attempt to give the team some sort of edge. That said, I would be very dissapointed if the comments went over the line. Being funny about a mistake in the game is one thing. Targeting someone over their background or cultural differences, if that is the case here, is not acceptable.

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• 

  idazag on December 03 at 10:23 a.m.

  when I said Kennel …I meant the student section…..I am also a season ticket holder and a member of the ..”the wine and cheese crowd”…..I did not hear anything negative from our section…

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• 

  D Port on December 03 at 11:30 a.m.

  they were chanting “Casto can't read” which was extremely rude. I'm really disappointed in the student section. They did not act with class last night to say the least.

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• 

  Mister Soap on December 03 at 2:59 p.m.

  I was sitting alon with the wine/cheeser's and while that chant wasn't really picked up it caused a lot of sly smiles and elbow rubbing. Honestly, what do kids at a univeristy that takes in most of UW and WSU's monied rejects have to be so snippy about? I'm sure Blanchette will get right on the case with his eternal objectivity.

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• 

  r Lynch on December 03 at 9:02 p.m.

  GOOD FOR MATT AND THE ZAGS….
  Great year.
  

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• 

  KennelClub09 on December 03 at 9:11 p.m.

  I was at the game, sitting in the student section, and I did not hear the chant you are talking about. Do not put all the students in one basket for a few bad eggs that decided to be classless. Do not take away from an awesome game that was greatly helped by the student section's cheering and getting the “wine and cheese” section involved.

  And to Mister Soap, I'm pretty sure that 95% of the students that go to GU got into or would have been accepted to WSU and UW. I got accepted by UW and rejected them because I wanted a better education and couldn't wait to go to basketball games to cheer on the Zags.

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• 

  Ryan on December 04 at 9:39 a.m.

  Wow Kennelclub09, you present a very well-informed argument against Mr. Soap. “I'm pretty sure that 95% of the students that go to GU got into or would have been accepted to WSU and UW” is both insightful and factual, congratulations.

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• 

  Cormac McCarthy on December 04 at 12:19 p.m.

  I went to the University of Tennessee, and I wrote “The Road.” Just thought you should know.

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