Big Gamble Pays Off For Bulldogs Frahm’s Overtime Heroics Put Zags In Tie For Conference Lead

Normally, frustration is not the feeling Richie Frahm wants washing over him at crunch time of a crucial West Coast Conference basketball matchup.

But Gonzaga’s sophomore shooting guard made it work in his favor Thursday night as he came up with a key steal and layin in the final seconds of overtime to help the Bulldogs outlast San Francisco 76-72 at Martin Centre.

With GU leading 74-72, Frahm popped outside for a 3-pointer that could have sealed the victory with just over 10 seconds left in the extra period. He had a clear shot but missed, and USF’s Zerrick Campbell muscled down the rebound.

Frahm, trying to atone for his miss, backed off momentarily before stepping in front of Campbell’s outlet pass to come up with the steal and basket that delighted most of those in a noisy crowd of 3,916.

The victory raised GU’s overall record to 16-6 and moved the Bulldogs into a first-place tie in the WCC with Santa Clara and Portland. All three teams are 5-2 in league play following Portland’s 76-65 Thursday night win over Santa Clara, which invades Martin Center on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Frahm, who finished with 15 points, seemed more concerned about his missed 3-pointer than the steal and bucket that decided the issue.

“I was frustrated that I missed the shot I took right before that,” he explained. “So, basically, I just hung around and kind of anticipated the (outlet) pass. Luckily, I was right.”

It was a fitting end to a ragged, but intense, game that saw USF rally from 11 points down in the final 3 minutes to force overtime.

The Dons (12-7, 3-4), after badgering the Bulldogs with full-court pressure all night, held them scoreless in the last 2 minutes and 43 seconds of regulation but couldn’t come up with anything resembling a big play in the extra period.

“We’ve got a pretty good ball-club,” USF coach Philip Mathews said of his team’s spirited comeback. “They’re not going to lay down - they’re going to keep coming after you, and we never thought we were out of it.

“I thought our press hurt them, but they made some big plays at the end and we didn’t.”

Frahm made most of them, scoring seven of GU’s nine overtime points.

But it was the scoring of Bakari Hendrix and Matt Santangelo that kept the Bulldogs in control throughout most of regulation. Both finished with 22 points and came up with key points during a late run that put GU up 67-58 with just under 3 minutes left.

Hendrix did not have a rebound in the first half, but scored on three putbacks late in the second and turned two of them into three-point plays after being fouled. He finished with eight rebounds as GU outrebounded the Dons 48-38 to help overcome 19 turnovers.

“We didn’t play one of our better games mentally,” admitted Bulldogs coach Dan Monson. “We made a lot of mental mistakes, but I thought they caused a lot of them with their quickness and their press.

“That’s the first team that’s pressed us all year and it bothered us, because it’s hard to simulate their press in practice.”

Monson said most of his team’s offensive problems in the last 3 minutes of regulation were the result of not aggressively working the shot clock.

“There’s a fine line between running clock (to score) and just running your offense for the time to expire,” he said. “With the 35-second clock you have to run clock to score, and we don’t know that fine line yet.”

USF was paced offensively by reserve guard Ali Thomas, who scored a game-high 25 points. Hakeem Ward added 18 and Damian Cantrell chipped in 12, along with 12 rebounds.

While admitting Saturday’s showdown against Santa Clara is huge, Monson said he will not approach it as an end-all game.

“We knew coming into the season that to win the conference we were going to have to go through San Francisco and Santa Clara,” he said. “We’ve got them at home, but we have to go down to both of those places next week.

“There’s a long way to go, yet.”

Gonzaga 76, San Francisco 72 (OT)

San Francisco (12-7, 3-4) - Russell 1-3 1-2 4, Nodilo 2-13 0-0 5, Campbell 1-3 0-0 2, Cantrell 6-12 0-3 12, Ward 7-18 4-6 18, Wilcher 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 9-16 2-2 25, Sadat 0-1 0-0 0, Cobbs 1-3 2-2 4, Nees 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-71 9-15 72.

Gonzaga (16-5, 5-2) - Santangelo 7-14 6-8 22, Frahm 7-15 0-0 15, Dench 2-8 1-2 5, Leasure 0-0 5-6 5, Hendrix 9-15 4-6 22, Hall 1-5 1-2 3, Nilson 0-0 0-0 0, Calvary 0-2 2-2 2, Floyd 1-2 0-0 2, Griffin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-63 19-26 76.

Halftime-Gonzaga 32, San Francisco 31. 3-Point goals- San Francisco 7-25 (Russell 1-2, Nodilo 1-11, Wilcher 0-1, Thomas 5-11), Gonzaga 3-18 (Santangelo 2-5, Frahm 1-6, Dench 0-1, Hall 0-4, Calvary 0-1, Floyd 0-1). Fouled out- Hendrix. Rebounds-San Francisco 38 (Cantrell 12), Gonzaga 48 (Hendrix 8). Assists-San Francisco 16 (Nodilo 6), Gonzaga 14 (Santangelo 4). Total fouls-San Francisco 24, Gonzaga 17. A-3,916.

, DataTimes