Gonzaga’s Dower steps up admirably for ill Sacre

MALIBU, Calif. – Robert Sacre’s stomach was in turmoil most of Friday and Saturday, but he was happy about one thing: He didn’t get his roommate, Sam Dower, sick on the road trip.

Elias Harris had his third double-double of the season and Dower, filling in for Sacre, chipped in 13 points as the Gonzaga men’s basketball team cooled off the Pepperdine Waves 63-44 in front of 2,484 Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Gonzaga (17-9, 7-3 WCC) has moved from a tie for fourth place two weeks ago into a tie for second with San Francisco, which lost at home to Saint Mary’s. Pepperdine, winners of four of its last six, dropped to 11-17, 5-6. The Waves never led and had no player reach double figures.

Sacre and Steven Gray spent part of Friday at the hospital getting IVs to help combat their illnesses.

“The night I made fun of Steven for getting sick (Thursday), I was up every two hours throwing up,” Sacre said with a smile. “That’s karma. Note to self: Never make fun of your teammate. I’m just glad we got a win and our bench came in and really produced because we really needed it.”

With Sacre limited to 10 minutes and Gray still battling an upset stomach, Gonzaga needed others to step up and a number of Zags did just that. Harris had 11 of his 15 points in the first half as Gonzaga took a 33-20 lead.

“I’m trying to go back to my old game and this weekend it worked out well for me,” Harris said. “I just have to try to keep it rolling.”

Dower played 29 minutes and came up with a team-high six field goals. He missed his first three shots, but recovered to make 6 of his last 11. He also had two blocks and two steals.

“Rob was sick, so I knew I had to step up,” said Dower, who also had eight rebounds. “My shots weren’t falling, but the coaches kept telling me, ‘Keep shooting, those are your shots and they’ll go in.’ They eventually went in.”

Marquise Carter had eight points, a season-high seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. David Stockton had another nice night off the bench with seven points and Mike Hart grabbed five boards in nine minutes. Gray contributed seven points and was the primary defender on Pepperdine’s Mychel Thompson. Demetri Goodson chipped in six points and a pair of assists.

Much like Thursday’s grind-it-out win over Loyola Marymount, GU won this one with defense. Pepperdine, playing without leading scorer Keion Bell, who was suspended last week for the remainder of the season, has had a couple of hot hands in Thompson and Lorne Jackson, but they combined to go 5 of 27. Pepperdine made just 27.4 percent of its shots, including 2 of 15 3-pointers.

“Our defense was great. It was pretty good all weekend,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “We contested shots all weekend and we made (Pepperdine) take tough shots.”

Thompson, one of four Waves honored in pregame Senior Night ceremonies, had a miserable night. Gonzaga scored the game’s first seven points before Thompson made a 3-pointer with 17:09 left. He missed his next six shots before connecting on another 3-pointer with 13:10 left in the second half.

“He’s a great shooter and good off the bounce, too,” said Hart, who defended Thompson when he subbed in for Gray. “We just tried to make everything hard for him.”

Thompson’s 3-pointer pulled the Waves within 11 and they’d get as close as 10 before Stockton made a 6-footer on the baseline, triggering a 13-4 run that sealed GU’s win. Stockton had a 3-pointer and Carter added four points in the spurt.

“Our job is to get the offense going and get stops on defense,” Stockton said of the bench’s role.

Gonzaga 63, Pepperdine 44

		FG	FT	Reb
GU	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Harris	33	4-11	6-8	2-11	1	1	15
Sacre	10	1-4	0-1	0-2	1	2	2
Carter	37	3-6	2-2	2-5	7	1	8
Goodson	15	3-4	0-0	1-2	2	0	6
Gray	30	1-6	4-4	0-3	3	2	7
Stockton	24	2-5	2-2	0-2	2	2	7
Olynyk	8	1-4	0-0	0-2	0	2	2
Monninghoff	5	1-3	0-0	0-0	1	0	3
Hart	9	0-0	0-0	2-5	0	2	0
Dower	29	6-14	1-1	2-8	0	2	13
Totals		22-57	15-18	9-41	17	14	63

Percentages: FG .386, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Monninghoff 1-2, Harris 1-3, Stockton 1-3, Gray 1-5, Carter 0-2, Olynyk 0-2). Team Rebounds : 1. Blocked Shots: 5 (Dower 2, Carter, Olynyk, Harris). Turnovers: 10 (Carter 4, Harris 2, Sacre, Dower, Goodson). Steals: 7 (Carter 4, Dower 2, Stockton). Technical Fouls: None.

		FG	FT	Reb
Pepp.	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	PTS
Thompson	37	2-14	3-4	0-5	2	1	9
Clardy	29	4-6	0-0	4-5	0	2	8
Darby	21	2-7	2-4	2-6	0	4	6
Lowery	33	3-6	1-2	0-6	5	1	7
Jackson	34	3-13	0-0	1-6	3	5	6
Suttle Jr	8	0-5	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Willis	8	0-4	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Moore	24	2-6	2-2	2-6	0	1	6
Agre	6	1-1	0-0	2-2	0	0	2
Totals		17-62	8-12	15-43	10	14	44

Percentages: FG .274, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 2-15, .133 (Thompson 2-7, Lowery 0-1, Willis 0-1, Suttle Jr. 0-3, Jackson 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 2 (Moore 2). Turnovers: 12 (Jackson 6, Darby 2, Lowery 2, Agre, Thompson). Steals: 5 (Jackson 3, Lowery, Clardy). T echnical Fouls: None.

Halftime—Gonzaga 33-20. A—2,484.