Bulldogs Show Ewu Best Stuff Hendrix Scores 32 In Zags’ Win

Bakari Hendrix may be the main reason Gonzaga University is already 9-2 on this young college basketball season. But there are other reasons, as well.

And Steve Aggers got a close-up look at every one at Martin Centre Sunday afternoon as his Eastern Washington Eagles were brushed aside by the Bulldogs 100-78.

“This is as good a Gonzaga team as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” the third-year coach said after watching Hendrix abuse his Eagles (4-3) for a career-high 32 points in front of a Christmas-break crowd of 3,492. “They’re playing very well together. They believe in themselves and in what they’re doing, and it’s going to take a heck of an effort for someone to beat them in this place.”

Hendrix, as he has been all season, was an absolute monster inside. The 6-foot-8 senior forward took advantage of EWU’s reluctance to run the floor and double-team on the low blocks to drop in 11 of 15 field-goal attempts.

He scored 23 points in the first half to help stake the Bulldogs to a 55-47 lead, and, during one 12-minute stretch that spanned intermission, accounted for 26 of GU’s 36 points. His selection of shots included everything from baseline jump hooks to medium-range, pop-out jump shots.

“I thought he did a great job,” Bulldogs coach Dan Monson said of Hendrix, who played in a pro-am league in the San Francisco area over the summer. “Our kids did a good job of getting him the ball where he could score, and when he gets that jumper going, it just makes it so much tougher to guard him.”

Hendrix said he figured he could muscle inside against the Eagles, whose starting power forward Jon Berger is out with a broken foot.

“But I feel like I can do that every night,” Hendrix added. “It doesn’t matter who we play.”

Adding to Eastern’s defensive problems was GU’s exceptional outside shooting, which resulted in nine 3-pointers. Backup point guard Quentin Hall made five of his seven 3-point tries and finished with a career-high 22 points. Starting point guard Matt Santangelo added 19 and hit two of three 3-pointers.

“That was key,” Hendrix said of his teammates’ perimeter production. “We have some of the best shooters in the country, and it makes my job easier when teams can’t double down. Because one on one, I don’t think there’s anybody around here who can stop me.”

He would certainly get no argument from Aggers, who said his team had to “contain Hendrix and take away their 3-point field goals” to stay with GU, but admittedly “did neither.”

Eastern hung around throughout most of the first half, mainly because of the play of Karim Scott. The senior forward scored 22 points in the first 20 minutes, but was blanked after intermission.

Scott missed five minutes of the second half after having his nose bloodied while going hard for a rebound. But Aggers said the injury was not the cause of his second-half disappearance.

“They changed defenses quite a bit in the second half and pressured us a little more,” he explained. “That kind of got Karim out of his rhythm. But we didn’t do a good job of getting him the ball, either.”

Shannon Taylor scored 19 points for Eastern. Deon Williams added 10, with seven assists, despite having to contend with the quickness of Santangelo and Hall at the point.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: UP NEXT EWU at Santa Clara, 7 p.m. Wednesday GU vs. Whitman, 7 p.m. Saturday