Gonzaga returns to form
Faced with a short turnaround and some major defensive issues, Mark Few wasn’t sure what to expect from his Gonzaga University men’s basketball team in Sunday afternoon’s non-conference showdown against Montana.
Two nights earlier, in a season-opening win over Portland State, the Bulldogs had rolled over and played dead on the defensive end of the court, giving the Vikings a seemingly limitless number of fast-break opportunities and uncontested touches in the low post.
And with less than 44 hours between games and no time to practice or alter schemes, Few could only hope that a brief film session and a renewed emphasis on getting back and getting low on defense would be enough to help his team deal with another difficult non-conference challenge.
It seems they were.
Because the Zags, behind an enhanced defensive fervor and a remarkably balanced scoring attack, raced to an early lead and dusted off the Grizzlies 78-62 in front of a McCarthey Athletic Center crowd of 5,917.
The lopsided win, which came with two key players – injured shooting guard Erroll Knight and suspended center J.P. Batista – watching from the bench once again, was GU’s second in as many outings and seemed to ease many of the defensive concerns Few expressed after his team’s 98-80 win over PSU.
“There was no time to drill or time to go live,” Few said of the Zags’ new-found defensive passion. “We just talked about it, showed them on film and stressed it.”
And the Bulldogs responded by holding the Grizzlies scoreless for the first 7 minutes, 9 seconds and limiting them to 20 first-half points – a dramatic improvement over Friday night, when PSU shot 62.3 percent for the game and scored 46 points in the opening period.
“That’s a great quality – to be able to take something we’ve stressed or talked about and turn around in 24 hours, or whatever, and make a correction,” Few added. “That’s a sign of a good team, and I commended them on that. We were much better and much more focused on the defensive end.”
All while continuing to score the basketball with efficient ease.
Sean Mallon finished with a team-high 21 points for the Zags, but got plenty of offensive help from Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison, who combined for 39 points and 14 rebounds.
In addition, sophomore point guard Derek Raivio added eight points, 13 assists and seven steals as GU beat Montana (0-1) for the eighth straight time.
“We’re capable of being a good defensive team,” said Mallon, a 6-9 sophomore, who made eight of 11 field-goal attempts and pulled down seven rebounds. “Against Portland State, we weren’t getting back in transition and we weren’t keeping the ball out of the post. We had to change that. It was kind of a rude awakening.
“But it was better today.”
“It is more of a mental thing,” explained Turiaf, the only senior starter on GU’s roster. “We are good players and we know what we have to do. We just came out a little flat that first game, regarding defense, but we made a conscious effort today to fly around, make deflections and be solid on defense.
“I think today show that this is a team that is going to get better night in and night out, every game and every practice.”
First-year Montana coach Larry Krystowiak, who got 15 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward Kamarr Davis, said he was proud of the way his team battled back – even with starting guard Ken Criswell sidelined by an ankle injury – after missing its first nine shots and turning the ball over often.
“The first half, for us, was an execution thing where we weren’t ready to handle the ball,” he said. “The tempo was pretty good, but we turned it over 11 times, and a lot of those turned into forced fouls where we had to put them on the line.
“The second half was just kind of slugging rats. When you’ve got a little deficit like that (12 points) and you’re fighting, pretty quick it’s either 16 points or you’re back in the ballgame. Unfortunately, pretty quick it was up to 16.”
Gonzaga, which entertains Idaho at McCarthey Athletic Center at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, bumped its 32-20 halftime lead over Montana to 63-42 with just over 6 minutes left. But the Grizzlies closed in the last 3 minutes by knocking down four 3-pointers.
Gonzaga 78, Montana 62
Montana (0-1)–Dlouhy 2-6 0-0 5, Davis 4-10 7-11 15, Seyfert 1-3 0-0 2, Matthews 4-7 0-0 10, Lynch 3-11 0-0 8, Thierry 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 4-9 0-1 10, Strait 0-0 0-0 0, Farr 3-6 2-3 9, Easley 1-4 1-2 3, McKay 0-0 0-0 0. Totals—22-56 10-17 62.
Gonzaga (2-0)–Morrison 8-15 3-3 19, Mallon 8-11 4-7 21, Turiaf 7-12 6-6 20, Raivio 1-6 5-8 8, Doudney 0-7 0-0 0, Altidor-Cespedes 0-0 2-2 2, Michaelson 0-0 0-0 0, Floyd 0-0 0-0 0, Pendergraft 2-5 1-2 6, MacLeod 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-58 21-28 78.
Halftime—Gonzaga 32, Montana 20. 3-point goals—Montana 8-22 (Matthews 2-3, Martin 2-4, Lynch 2-9, Farr 1-1, Dlouhy 1-4, Easley 0-1), Gonzaga 3-15 (Mallon 1-1, Pendergraft 1-1, Raivio 1-5, Turiaf 0-1, Morrison 0-2, Doudney 0-5). Fouled out—Seyfert, Martin. Rebounds—Montana 35 (Davis 11), Gonzaga 35 (Turiaf 8). Assists—Montana 16 (Lynch, Farr 4), Gonzaga 23 (Raivio 13). Total fouls—Montana 26, Gonzaga 15. Technical foul—Turiaf. A—5,917.