He didn’t fess up, but he fouled up

It’s the thought that counts.

And in the most thoughtful gift of the season, the Gonzaga Bulldogs gave their peeps something to completely freak out about Saturday – something they can chew on maniacally at the upcoming wave of Christmas parties aside from peanut brittle and divinity fudge.

It’s like turning an 8-year-old loose at FAO Schwarz.

First, the Zags lost to Wake Forest 77-75 at the McCarthey Athletic Center, a thoroughly winnable game against the big, bad Atlantic Coast Conference that got away because of lousy foul shooting, indifferent rebounding and a lack of poise that might have been expected to be an issue for the Bulldogs in the early stages of this season but hadn’t been until now.

And in the game-turning moment, freshman forward Elias Harris – the happy revelation of this young season – whacked Wake’s Chas McFarland with an ugly forearm shot to the gullet, properly earning him a flagrant technical foul and ejection.

A series of town halls is in the works to parse the ethical and societal implications, and clergy will remain on red alert.

While it’s fun to muss the hair of the pious, the Harris foul was certainly unpleasant to witness and his ejection a fatal development for the Zags, who still might have managed to overcome it had the Demon Deacons not been so adept themselves at bailing when water started coming over the side.

In the end, it was a curiosity – and maybe most curious of all was the lack of a mea culpa.

It was barely two minutes before halftime when Wake’s C.J. Harris lofted a 3-pointer with the visitors down 31-22. Assembling for the rebound, Gonzaga’s Harris turned to McFarland and delivered his blow, and the 7-footer went down like Spider Rico. After viewing the replay and huddling, the officials banished Elias Harris – and, in the surprise development, sent the other Harris to the foul line to shoot five, Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin having been whistled for a foul on the shot, as well.

Four free throws and a 3-pointer out of the ensuing possession got the Deacons back into the game, and the momentum swing continued eight minutes into the second half before the Zags remembered where they were and coach Mark Few found a combination willing to engage.

Harris watched this on the big screen in the Zags’ locker room lounge and allowed that “it was not a nice feeling, to be honest.”

Then he added, “In my opinion, I did nothing wrong.”

Ho-kay.

“I put in my elbow, he pulled his arm up and my arm opened him up,” Harris said. “I didn’t go for his face, I went for his chest.”

McFarland, who returned to start the second half, was matter-of-fact about the incident after game, noting that “he threw his elbow and hit me in the throat. That was about it. He got me right in the Adam’s apple.”

He also claimed that teammate Al-Farouq Aminu “said (Harris) had done it to him once or twice before. Eventually, somebody’s going to catch him, I guess.”

McFarland clipped Harris with an elbow earlier in the sequence and the thought was that Harris may have lost his temper, but that notion was scuttled by Few even before he’d seen video.

“He doesn’t lose his head – it’s not the kind of kid he is,” he said. “I think it was just an aggressive block out that got caught up high. As I told the team, it was probably our lack of blocking out early that when we did step up and hit somebody, it stuck out like a sore thumb.”

In any case, what the Big Ten crew told Few – that it was an “automatic” ejection (it carries no further suspension) – was both the final judgment and the most accurate one. Go ahead and throw in immature, and that it hurt his own team.

But let’s not be convening any grand juries. This episode may be a necessary reality blast for all the tut-tutting that was heard over Cincinnati’s bruising style against the Zags in Maui, reaction to which had the term “thug” being tossed around waaaaaaay too much. The game prizes toughness more than ever, and it’s easy to take it over the top. Making instant character verdicts on heat-of-the-moment plays is exceedingly silly.

Few’s testimonial on that score: “Elias doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body.”

And in fact, Few noted that central to Gonzaga’s struggles the last two games has been its loss of a tough, physical edge inside and that “we need to get our mind-set back to being aggressive in there.”

That’s the thought, anyway. Keeping it within the rules counts, too.