Dixon’s Display Inspired Gonzaga Guard’s Efforts Blow Open Portland Game

Reasons for some things, such as a devastatingly lopsided outcome, are often hard to pinpoint.

“That one is hard to describe,” Portland Pilot coach Rob Chavez said Wednesday night.

Gonzaga coach Dan Fitzgerald had some troubles, too - like narrowing down praise to fewer than a dozen players.

“That’s the best we’ve played,” Fitzgerald said after GU’s 95- 72 West Coast Conference win over Portland in front of a Martin Centre gathering of 3,861. “We played good, solid basketball on both ends. It might have been a case of them not playing very well and us playing extremely well.”

It had to be difficult for Fitzgerald to dish out specific kudos considering his team moved to 13-4 and a league-leading 4-1 on the strength of:

Jon Kinloch’s 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting and four 3- pointers.

Paul Rogers’ 19 points and 11 rebounds, his fifth straight double-double.

Scott Snider’s 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting.

Many of the Bulldogs, though, pointed to an inspired stretch of play by point guard Kyle Dixon in the first half.

In a 3-minute span, Dixon put in nine points with several high- degree-of-difficulty lane drives. He also nabbed a couple rebounds and had a steal as the Bulldogs opened the score from 12-10 to 23-10.

From that point, Portland was unable to threaten and the lead reached 30 points in the second half.

“He’s really tough on the dribble and he’s starting to look to score a little more,” Kinloch said. “He made some amazing shots tonight. He has great body control and he can really break people down on the dribble.”

The quick tempo of the game, Dixon said, helped his play. But so, too, did the appearance of his girlfriend in Spokane for a short visit after studying in Italy.

“Yeah, maybe,” Dixon replied when asked if that served as inspiration. “But she doesn’t understand basketball much.”

Observers didn’t have to understand the game too thoroughly to appreciate the Bulldogs’ effort.

“There was a lot of energy out there tonight,” Kinloch said. “We really came out ready to play. We know that in our league, it’s very important to hold serve at home. And when we get five guys playing together and the fans behind us like this, we’re pretty hard to beat here.”

Especially when Portland center Greg Klosterman, the Pilots’ best hope to stop Rogers and Snider, got in early foul trouble.

“They rely on playing defense to offense and we felt that if we could handle the initial thrust of their pressure, we’d be able to wear them down inside,” Kinloch said.

Consequently, Gonzaga’s offense clicked better than it has all season.

“We felt we would break out some time,” Snider said. “We were thinking that if we ever put it together on offense, we’d be pretty good. And tonight, it finally gelled.”

These teams will engage in a quick rematch, meeting in Portland on Saturday.

The Bulldogs boast a 14-game home-court winning streak and have won 48 of their last 50 at Martin Centre.

Gonzaga 95, Portland 72

PORTLAND (11-6) - Anderson 0-4 0-0 0, Holton 6-10 2-5 14, Klosterman 0-3 2-2 2, Daniels 5-8 0-0 10, King 6-17 1-2 13, Rainwater 4-8 0-0 9, Flicker 0-3 0-0 0, Palumbis 0-0 0-3 0, Stonehouse 2-7 0-0 4, Brainard 4-8 0-0 8, Collins 2-2 3-4 7, Metoyer 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 30-72 11-17 72.

GONZAGA (13-4) - Dixon 4-6 3-7 11, Rollins 1-8 3-4 5, Rogers 7-14 5-8 19, Kinloch 9-12 3-4 25, Snider 8-8 2-3 18, Williams 3-8 0-0 8, Nemeth 0-0 1-2 1, Ball 1-2 0-0 2, Kincaid 0-0 0-0 0, Bond 0-0 1-2 1, Leasure 2-2 0-1 4, Morgan 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 35-63 19-33 95.

Halftime-Gonzaga 46, Portland 28. 3-Point goals-Portland 1-12 (Rainwater 1-2, Anderson 0-3, Daniels 0-1, King 0-4, Flicker 0-1, Brainard 0-1), Gonzaga 6-15 (Kinloch 4-7, Williams 2-4, Dixon 0-1, Rollins 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Portland 36 (Holton 5), Gonzaga 48 (Rogers 11). Assists-Portland 9 (Holton 3), Gonzaga 20 (Dixon, Rogers 4). Total fouls-Portland 23, Gonzaga 19. A-3,861.

, DataTimes