Portland Sinks Gonzaga With Late Foul Shots

Some people think Gonzaga and Portland don’t play football.

But that group would not include anybody who watched Saturday night’s full-contact West Coast Conference men’s basketball contest that was decided - with a full measure of irony - by a pair of foul shots with :01 on the clock.

Portland’s Kweemada King netted a pair of free throws at that point to give the Pilots a bruising and draining 67-66 win.

When officials took a no-fracture, no-foul approach early in the game, the match assumed an almost frightful intensity.

The game featured 17 lead changes, eight ties and technical fouls on both head coaches.

The frantic, combative nature didn’t cease at the final horn, either, as security officials confirmed that GU head coach Dan Fitzgerald was struck in the back by a Portland student.

The loss by GU (13-5, 4-2 in the WCC) left the Bulldogs in a three-way tie for first in the conference with Santa Clara and San Francisco.

“That was tackle football,” Fitzgerald said. “It was frustrating because our kids did a tremendous job of staying in that game and battling through adversity.”

GU had enjoyed a romp over the Pilots in the Martin Centre on Wednesday, leading by 30 before settling in for a 95-72 win.

There was never much breathing room in this one, though, as the UP students in the crowd of 2,616 never sat down - or shut up - the entire game.

“We just played a lot better this time,” Pilots coach Rob Chavez said of his team, which improved to 12-6, 3-3. “We defended better, we did a better job of stopping Kyle Dixon on the dribble, and we got some offense on the inside that we didn’t have Wednesday.”

Portland turned up the pressure from the start, pressing full-court.

And early on, it was a game of spurts, Portland going on a 12-0 run to take a 24-15 lead only to see GU go 13-0 to go ahead 28-24.

Aggressive offensive rebounding by Scott Snider and Scott Morgan helped the Bulldogs stretch their lead to nine points with 12 minutes left, but the Pilots continued to hack away at the deficit.

Portland clawed back to tie it at 57-all after Fitzgerald was T’ed for his protest of a violent collision.

In the final wild 6 minutes, neither team led by more than two points and the lead changed hands eight times.

In the final minute, Portland took a 65-64 lead on a drive by Lemont Daniels.

But Dixon, GU’s elusive point guard, shook free and lofted in a clutch 12-foot baseline jumper to give the Bulldogs a 66-65 advantage with just :06 remaining.

The Pilots then did as they’d hoped, getting the ball to King - a left-hander - on the left wing.

As time was about to expire, King jumped in for a leaner from about 15 feet and collided with Kevin Williams.

“We wanted him to drive to the hoop and get a foul or the shot,” Chavez said. “He got up there and made the shots.”

“I was so nervous, I thought I was going to faint,” King said of the free throws.

Williams, who had played exceptionally, sinking 3 of 4 3-point attempts and scoring 13 points off the bench, would not comment on the officials’ ruling. “I’ll just take the blame for that,” he said. “If we’re going to be a championship team, we have to make stops like that when we need them.”

Fitzgerald was surprised that he could be vulnerable to an assault from a fan.

“Maybe I’m maturing at 53, because there’s not been a lot of times somebody has hit me and I’ve just walked away from it,” he said.

Portland 67, Gonzaga 66

Gonzaga (13-5) - Kinloch 3-8 6-6 14, Snider 4-7 4-5 12, Rogers 5-10 4-11 14, Rollins 0-2 0-0 0, Dixon 4-9 0-0 9, Williams 4-10 2-3 13, Morgan 2-5 0-1 4, Leasure 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-51 16-26 66.

Portland (12-6) - Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Daniels 6-12 0-1 12, Klosterman 8-12 0-1 16, King 2-8 4-4 8, Holton 6-11 0-0 12, Metoyer 1-2 0-0 2, Flicker 0-1 3-4 3, Rainwater 2-6 2-2 6, Stonehouse 2-4 1-2 5, Brainard 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 28-61 11-16 67.

Halftime-Gonzaga 38, Portland 33. 3-Point goals-Gonzaga 6-12 (Williams 3-4, Kinloch 2-6, Dixon 1-1, Rollins 0-1), Portland 0-3 (King 0-1, Flicker 0-1, Rainwater 0-10). Fouled out-Gonzaga, Williams. Rebounds-Gonzaga 37 (Snider 12), Portland 35 (Daniels 7). Assists-Gonzaga 13 (Dixon 5), Portland 13 (Daniels, Brainard 3). Total fouls-Gonzaga 17, Portland 20. Technicals- Gonzaga bench, Portland bench. A-2,616.

, DataTimes