Final Stretch: Wcc In For Wild Finish

Only one regular-season weekend of play remains in the WWCC — the Wild West Coast Conference.

(We added that first “W” because it seems appropriate at the moment).

Each of the eight teams have just a pair of league games left on the schedule. And the regular season thus far has accomplished only one thing: determine that Santa Clara (11-1) is the league titlist.

Aside from that, stand back and keep your feet and hands out of the way, because it’s a dangerous scramble.

Four teams could finish as high as fourth (Gonzaga, San Diego, San Francisco and Loyola Marymount) and three teams could finish as low as last (Pepperdine, LMU and USF).

With a pair of wins this week, GU takes fourth, but a pair of losses to San Francisco and San Diego leaves the Bulldogs in seventh.

The importance of ordinal finish, obviously, is the way it determines pairings in next week’s tournament at Santa Clara, with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7, etc.

Whether finishing fourth or seventh, the Bulldogs, having won five of their last six conference games, see themselves as real contenders for the tournament title. Three wins there would give GU its first NCAA Tournament bid.

“Heading into the tournament, I feel confident we can achieve something that nobody (at Gonzaga) has ever done before,” said guard John Rillie.

“After all, in our seven losses, it isn’t like we’ve gotten our (tails) kicked by anybody,” Rillie said. “They’ve all been close.”

A key, in the eyes of GU coach Dan Fitzgerald, is taking care of business during the final minutes of games.

“We’ve done a lot of things and battled back hard, but one thing we haven’t done is win a close game,” Fitzgerald said.

A recap of GU’s seven league losses bears him out.

At San Diego (80-70): GU was ahead by two with 9:50 to go, but made only 9 of 17 free throws in the final 5 minutes.

At USF (106-98, OT): GU led by five with 3:15 to go. The Bulldogs made only 5 of 10 free throws in last 8:15.

Santa Clara (73-68): GU led by 11 with 14:42 to play, but missed 5 of 11 free throws down the stretch and in overtime.

Saint Mary’s (68-63): GU led by one with 7:06 left, but gave up three turnovers for five points in the time remaining.

At Saint Mary’s (73-66): GU was down by only three with 1:21 left, but committed three turnovers in that span and shot only 6 of 12 from the line in the second half.

At Santa Clara (83-74): GU led 46-40 with 13:09 to go. The Bulldogs make just 5 of 9 free throws and committed four turnovers from that point.

At Portland (74-71): GU led by nine with 9:31 left and by five with 3:59 to go. The Bulldogs made a skimpy 4 of 10 free throws in the second half and committed two turnovers in the final minute.

“We haven’t had much luck this season,” Rillie said. “Hopefully, we’ll get it all at the right time of the year.”

Santa Clara gets to host the tournament, but may fall under a strange WCC curse that has prevented the host team from ever capturing the title.

“That may be a little misleading,” Fitzgerald said. “One year, there wasn’t a host team when San Francisco had dropped the sport, and the best team hasn’t really ever hosted it until this year.”

Around the league

Rillie, with 198 3-pointers, needs one more to tie LMU’s Bo Kimble for fifth on the all-time WCC list in that category. The league’s all-time leader? Jeff Fryer, LMU, with 363.

San Francisco’s team met and was blessed by Pope John Paul II this summer during a tour of Italy.

At 4-8 and 10-16, the Dons apparently haven’t benefited that much.

Lorenzo Rollins, an early signee to GU from Tacoma Community College, had 44 and 33 points in his last two games and is averaging 26 points a game and hitting 46 percent from 3-point range.

Phantom foul: Sure, GU’s Scott Snider plays a physical game, but this is calling them a bit too closely. Last Saturday at Portland, Snider reportedly was whistled for a foul when he wasn’t even in the game.

A case of mistaken identity, evidently.

Prime Sports Northwest will telecast the March 5 WCC tournament action, including a pair of men’s semifinals and the women’s title game.

GU’s senior forward Jason Rubright has been accepted into the Coast Guard’s officers’ program and expects to be flying helicopters at this time next year.

Portland’s Tina Geis, who scored 29 against the GU women last Wednesday at the Martin Centre, suffered a loss last Saturday after the GU game in Portland.

Reportedly, her 96-year-old grandmother died while leaving the Chiles Center after the game.