Gonzaga Has Another Rillie Big Night Aussie Ace Has 30 Points As Bulldogs Nip St. Mary’s, Reach Wcc Title Game

At this point, it looks

as if there’s only one group that could stop John Rillie: The folks at the Department of Immigration and Naturalization.

But they’ll have to yank his visa to do it.

The Gonzaga Bulldog senior from Toowoomba, Australia, gunned in 30 points - making six of seven 3-point attempts - to propel GU to a 69-59 win over Saint Mary’s Sunday night.

The win gives GU (20-8) a berth in tonight’s West Coast Conference championship game against Portland. It is only the second time the Bulldogs have gone to the title game, losing to Pepperdine in 1992.

“He’s got 60 days left on his visa,” GU coach Dan Fitzgerald said of Rillie. “And the Green Card can be an enormous motivator. Actually, what he’s said is ‘Get on the saddle fellas, we’re going to the dance and you’re riding me.”’

Rillie certainly has been the workhorse, scoring 32 points Saturday night in the opening-round win over San Diego. His shooting totals for the two tournament games are staggering, featuring a 14-for-19 effort from 3-point range.

A victory in tonight’s title game (on ESPN at 9) would earn GU its first trip to the NCAA Tournament - an improbable achievement for a team that was picked to finish last in the conference in several preseason publications, and WAS at the bottom of the league standings after an 0-6 conference start.

The Bulldogs collaborated to do so many things wrong in this game, committing four turnovers in the final 1:42 of the game, getting outrebounded 35-28, and turning the ball over 19 times.

In the final minute, though, Rillie netted a pair of free throws and Jon Kinloch went 4-for-4 from the line to put away the No. 3 seeded Gaels (18-10).

And through it all, Rillie was simply unstoppable.

SMC tried a small, quick defender, Kamran Sufi, and Rillie drilled him. They tried a bigger defender in Chris Johnson, and Rillie just backed up and took longer bombs.

“Once those first couple go down, it makes it so much easier to take the rest of the shots,” Rillie said. “It was good that it was a smaller guy at first, it gave a better look, but this is one of those games when it was going in.”

At halftime, Rillie had made 5 of 6 3-pointers and had 17 points that seemed to solely sustain a struggling GU team.

“Rillie had an incredible shooting night, we did not do a good job defending him,” Saint Mary’s coach Ernie Kent said. “He’s one of the premier players in the conference and he’s certainly one of the best shooters in the country.”

And although Rillie’s gaudy numbers are the most obvious element in the GU win, it may have been on the defensive end where the Bulldogs truly claimed this one.

“The thing we’re doing so well right now, we’re bending and not breaking,” Fitzgerald said. “We were on the mat the first half last night and we were on the mat the first half tonight, but we made big plays and did some really good things defensively. We gave up 21 in the second half last night and 22 in the second half tonight.”

The win validates GU’s lateseason surge, since it comes against the hottest team in the league. SMC had won 12 of its last 13 games, and had crushed San Francisco, 72-41, in its tournament opener.

Now, GU faces a Pilots team with which it split during the regular season. Portland topped No. 8-seeded Loyola Marymount team in the first semifinal.

“They have a lot of experience, they have three five-year kids,” Fitzgerald said of Portland. “They create a lot of problems for us; it’s a question of matchups and they’re hard for us to contain.”

To win it, the Bulldogs must simply continue doing what they’ve done the two preceding nights. “We need to keep composed,” Rillie said. “The last two nights, we were down at halftime. Now, we’ve proven to ourselves we’re never going to be down and out until the final buzzer.”

And while the Bulldogs’ NIT appearance last year was satisfying, the team is looking toward the NCAA this time around.

“We were honored to be in the NIT last year,” Fitzgerald deadpanned. “It was a great warmup for the NCAA in ‘95.”

Gonzaga 69, Saint Mary’s59 GONZAGA (20-8)

Kinloch 2-7 6-6 11, Rubright 1-2 0-0 2, Rogers 3-6 2-4 8, Dixon 4-9 4-4 12, Rillie 8-11 8-10 30, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Bond 0-0 0-0 0, Cole 1-1 0-0 3, Snider 1-4 1-2 3, Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-41 21-26 69.

SAINT MARY’S (18-10)

Farris 5-13 7-9 17, Unruh 1-5 1-2 3, Horton 2-4 2-4 6, Sufi 1-6 0-0 3, Gilmore 2-5 0-0 4, Johnson 5-16 1-4 14, Joseph 0-2 0-0 0, Rollins 4-7 4-4 12, Dodic 0-0 0-0 0, Driscoll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 15-23 59

Halftime-Saint Mary’s 37, Gonzaga 34. 3-Point goals- Gonzaga 8-12 (Rillie 6-7, Kinloch 1-3, Cole 1-1, Dixon 0-1), Saint Mary’s 4-20 (Johnson 3-11, Sufi 1-4, Farris 0-2, Gilmore 0-1, Joseph 0-1). Fouled out-Rogers, Snider, Unruh. Rebounds- Gonzaga 28 (Rillie 6), Saint Mary’s 35 (Farris 11). Assists- Gonzaga 10 (Dixon 5), Saint Mary’s 12 (Farris, Gilmore 3). Total fouls-Gonzaga 22, Saint Mary’s 19. A-3,112.

Portland 74, Loyola Marymount 68 Curt Ranta scored 22 points as the Pilots (21-7) advanced to the finals by defeating the Lions (13-15).

Canaan Chatman added 18 points for the Pilots, whose victory total is their highest since 1952. The Lions had upset top-seeded Santa Clara Saturday in the first round.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (13-15)

O’Quinn 8-12 2-2 21, Kirksey 4-7 3-4 12, Oduok 4-5 6-12 14, Williamson 1-7 3-3 12, Jones 5-7 2-3 12, Anthony 0-1 0-0 0, McElroy 1-3 0-0 2, Ammerman 0-1 0-0 0, Hotopp 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-44 16-24 68.

PORTLAND (21-7)

Daniels 5-9 2-2 12, Chatman 5-15 8-14 18, Ranta 8-10 6-8 22, Ross 3-9 2-2 10, Holton 1-2 0-0 2, Flicker 1-5 0-1 3, Harris 0-2 0-1 3, Metoyer 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 2-7 2-2 7. Totals 25-59 20-29 74.

Halftime-Loyola Marymount 32, Portland 32. 3-Point goals-Loyola Marymount 4-15 (O’Quinn 3-4, Kirksey 1-3, Williamson 0-4, McElroy 0-2, Anthony 0-1, Ammerman 0-1), Portland 4-15 (Ross 2-4, Anderson 1-6 Flicker 1-5). Fouled out- Jones. Rebounds-Loyola Marymount 30 (Oduok 5), Portland 32 (Chatman 9). Assists-Loyola Marymount 12 (O’Quinn 5), Portland 18 (Daniels 9). Total fouls-Loyola Marymount 21, Portland 17.