Gonzaga Finds Range, Keeps Share Of First Place

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the perfect strategy that results in a key victory.

With his team trailing by four at halftime, Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Dan Monson found the formula that would lead to the Bulldogs’ 96-85 victory Saturday over the San Francisco Dons.

“I just went in there at halftime, told them not to run offense and just make all their 3-pointers,” Monson said. “I thought that was pretty good coaching by me.”

Actually, the Bulldogs missed three 3-pointers in the second half, but their 11 makes led to 61 points and a victory that keeps them tied with Santa Clara for the West Coast Conference lead. Both teams are 7-3.

“I really was really proud of our kids, It was a character win,” Monson said. “It was an emotional loss (Friday). We had kids crying afterwards. It’s hard to come back 24 hours later. Emotionally, they did a great job.”

Seriously, Monson said his second-half strategy was not to focus on 3-pointers, but “when you shoot the ball like that, it solves a lot of problems.”

Three players combined to score 66 points for Gonzaga: Matt Santangelo had 23, Bakari Hendrix 22 and Richie Frahm 21. Hendrix added 15 rebounds.

Gonzaga had seven consecutive 3-pointers early in the second half, four of them during a 14-4 run to break a 56-56 tie and go up 70-60 with 9:48 to play.

The Dons crept back to within 74-68 after Jamal Cobbs drove for a basket with 7:14 left, but the Bulldogs pulled away from there. Quentin Hall scored five straight points by hitting a 3-pointer and two free throws, putting GU up 79-68.

Hall did more than score.

“Quentin Hall came in and broke the press and got the ball going to Santangelo and Frahm and they got good open shots,” Monson said.

Memo: Santangelo was 3 for 3 on 3-pointers, Frahm 5 for 6, Hendrix 4 for 4, Hall 3 for 5 and Mike Leasure 1 for 3 as Gonzaga made 13 of 21.

Gonzaga’s lead reached 13 points, 85-72, with 4:01 remaining when Santangelo made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.

USF’s Hakeem Ward led all scorers with 28 points. Damian Cantrell added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Dons, who shot 65.6 percent in the second half (21 for 32) but were still outscored 61-46.

Gonzaga 96, San Francisco 85

Gonzaga (18-7, 7-3)- Leasure 1-5 2-2 5, Dench 0-1 0-0 0, Hendrix 8-14 4-4 22, Santangelo 8-15 3-3 23, Frahm 6-11 5-6 21, Hall 3-4 3-5 11, Nilson 0-0 0-0 0, Calvary 4-6 0-2 8, Griffin 2-3 2-3 6. Totals 32-59 19-25 96.

San Francisco (13-9, 4-6)- Campbell 3-4 4-4 10, Cantrell 8-12 1-2 13, Ward 13-19 2-4 28, Cobbs 3-3 1-2 7, Nodilo 4-10 0-0 10, Wilcher 0-1 2-2 2, Thomas 3-8 0-0 9., Sadat 0-0 0-0 0, Nees 0-1 0-0 0, Russell 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 35-63 10-14 85.

Halftime score- San Francisco 39, Gonzaga 35. 3-point goals- Gonzaga 13-21 (Frahm 5-6, Hendrix 4-4, Hall 3-5, Santangelo 3-3, Leasure 1-3), San Francisco 5-13 ( Thomas 3-6, Nodilo 2-5, Russell 0-1, Cantrell 0-1).Fouled out- Cobbs. Assists- Gonzaga 16 (Hall 5), San Francisco 22 (Nodilo 7), Rebounds- Gonzaga 35 (Hendrix 15), San Francisco 28 (Cantrell 13). Total fouls- Gonzaga 13, San Francisco 20. A-NA.

, DataTimes