Marked Bulldogs Pull Out Win Santa Clara’S Tough Defense Stymies Gu For A Half

There is no comfort zone in the cross hairs.

Gonzaga University found that out Thursday night when its much-anticipated return to the friendly sounds and familiar surroundings of Martin Centre did little to lighten the burden of being the front-running men’s basketball team in everyone’s sights.

Once again, the Bulldogs survived. But once again it was a tremendous struggle.

“That was probably the toughest 18-point victory of my young career,” second-year coach Dan Monson admitted moments after GU had shoved aside Santa Clara 70-52 in front of another sellout crowd of 4,018.

The score was, indeed, deceiving. Yet in the end, after Richie Frahm had awakened in time to score 12 of his game-high 17 points in the final 6 minutes, the Bulldogs had run their winning streak to eight and kept the Broncos from avenging last Saturday’s 71-69 home loss to the Zags in Toso Pavilion.

The win was the 13th in the last 14 games for GU, which raised its record to 17-4 overall and 7-0 in the West Coast Conference, a game and a half better than second-place Pepperdine (14-7, 5-1), which plays at home against San Diego tonight.

It also gave the Bulldogs their first 7-0 WCC start since they joined the league 20 years ago.

Santa Clara slipped to 7-12 and 3-4 despite an effort that was every bit as fierce and inspired as that which produced last Saturday’s near-upset. And it wasn’t until Frahm, who has been held to just five points in the first 34 minutes, knocked down four consecutive 3-pointers late in the game that the Broncos finally succumbed.

Santa Clara coach Dick Davey was pleased with his team’s effort, but disappointed in lack of rewards.

“It still feels like a loss,” he said. “(Gonzaga) just played better. They were tougher-minded. It was the same thing as last game, except they were home this time.”

The Bulldogs, after a pitiful first half, shot 54.2 percent (13 of 24) in the second and kept their dream of an unbeaten WCC season alive. Senior point guard Quentin Hall finished with 16 points for GU and senior center Jeremy Eaton added 10 - all in the second half.

Darrell Teat paced Santa Clara with 15 points.

GU, despite returning home following three tough and tightly contested road games, shot the ball poorly in the first half against a well-prepared Santa Clara defense. The Bulldogs, relying mainly on perimeter jump shots after Eaton picked up two early offensive fouls and left the game, made just 9 of 32 first-half field-goal tries - 18 of which came from 3-point range.

Frahm, Hall and shooting guard Matt Santangelo were a combined 4 for 17, yet GU managed to sneak into intermission with a 27-26 lead.

Two minutes into the second half, a three-point play by Eaton ignited a 11-0 run the gave the Bulldogs a little bit of separation at 41-32, but Santa Clara gamely battled back and closed to within 49-44 with 7:26 remaining. Then Frahm took over, hitting a couple of long jumpers in transition as GU pushed the tempo to a level where the Broncos were no longer comfortable.

The Bulldogs benefitted immensely from a technical foul on SCU’s Todd Wusching, who shoved GU’s Casey Calvary while the teams were lining up for an inbounds pass with 16:04 left.

Gonzaga led 37-32 at the time, but after Santangelo hit both technical free throws and Frahm scored on an inside cut, the Bulldogs were back in command.

“That was a momentum part of the game,” Monson admitted. “Our kids put together a little spurt right there and took control of the game. This team really is resilient and handles adversity well.”

Next up is USF, which invades Martin Centre Saturday for a 7 p.m. game that will be televised live on Fox Sports Northwest.

Gonzaga 70, Santa Clara 52

Santa Clara (7-12, 3-4) - D’Oyen 2-5 3-4 9, Teat 5-14 5-5 15, Lopez 3-9 0-1 6, Fast 4-10 2-3 10, Gomes 1-1 0-0 2, Vaka 0-3 2-2 2, Wusching 2-4 2-2 6, Holbrook 0-0 0-0 0, Emslie 0-1 0-0 0, Dely 0-2 2-2 2, Warford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-49 16-19 52.

Gonzaga (17-4, 7-0) - Hall 5-13 5-5 16, Santangelo 2-8 2-2 8, Eaton 2-7 6-9 10, Frahm 6-10 0-0 17, Calvary 3-6 0-1 7, Spink 1-1 0-0 2, Nilson 0-1 0-0 0, Leasure 0-1 0-0 0, Dench 2-6 0-2 5, Floyd 1-3 2-2 5. Totals 22-56 15-21 70.

Halftime - Gonzaga 27, Santa Clara 26. 3-point goals - Santa Clara 2-13 (D’Oyen 2-2, Wusching 0-1, Vaka 0-2, Teat 0-4, Fast 0-4), Gonzaga 11-27 (Frahm 5-8, Santangelo 2-4, Dench 1-2, Floyd 1-2, Calvary 1-3, Hall 1-7, Nilson 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Santa Clara 35 (D’Oyen 7), Gonzaga 36 (Eaton, Calvary 6). Assists - Santa Clara 8 (D’Oyen, Teat, Lopez 2), Gonzaga 15 (Hall 4). Total fouls - Santa Clara 23, Gonzaga 20. Technicals - Wusching. A - 4,018.