Bulldogs open McCarthey Center

The Gonzaga University men’s basketball team presented its fans with much more than a mere glimpse of what the 2004-05 college basketball season might hold Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs, in conjunction with the grand opening of the McCarthey Athletic Center — the new $25 million, 6,000-seat home of The Kennel — treated their loyal followers to a spirited, game-like scrimmage that got a little scruffy at times, but lacked little in the way of energy, emotion and excitement.

“This is pretty much what we’ll be dealing with,” coach Mark Few said, after watching sophomore Adam Morrison throw in 19 points and pull down five rebounds to lead the White team to a 64-50 win over the Blues in front of a sellout crowd on GU’s annual Fall Family Weekend. “This team is really inexperienced at pretty much everything that we’re doing. Even the guys who have been here, they’re roles are going to change significantly for us to get where we need to go.”

Along with Morrison’s ample contributions, the Whites got 13 points and six rebounds from first-year junior transfer J.P. Batista and 10 points, five boards and four assists from freshman David Pendergraft.

The Blue team was led by senior Ronny Turiaf, who finished with 18 points, and sophomore Sean Mallon, who added 17, and seven rebounds.

All told, the two front lines combined for 86 of the 114 points scored in the scrimmage — a fact that hardly surprised Few.

“We won’t be as point-guard oriented as we’ve been in the past,” explained Few, who lost five seniors — including point guard Blake Stepp, a two-time West Coast Conference player of the year — to graduation last spring. “I think we’re going to be kind of an inside-out team this year. That’s where our strength lies.

“But our wings are certainly versatile, and our point guards can really shoot the ball.”

Sophomore Derek Raivio, the Bulldogs’ heir apparent to Stepp at the point, ran the offense for the Whites and finished with nine points, five assists and eight rebounds — seven of which came off the defensive boards.

Freshman Pierre Marie Altidor Cespedes, who played point for the Blues, failed to score but handed out seven assists.

“There were a couple of silly entry pass decisions they made,” Few said of his two point guards. “But other than that, it was OK. To me, it’s more about those other guys with experience stepping up and shouldering more of the burden.”

Turiaf, Morrison and Mallon certainly did their share. But Few said he expects to see more offensive production out of junior guard Erroll Knight as the season progresses and more accurate shooting from Nathan Doudney, a junior transfer from Texas Tech, who missed all of his five shots.

“I don’t think Erroll was quite as active making plays and going toward the basket as he has been all through the fall and early in practice,” Few said. “And Nathan is going to shoot the ball much better than he did today. He’s a great shooter. He’s proven that.”

Turiaf contributed much of the sloppiness of the scrimmage to the two team’s familiarity with each other.

“People don’t understand,” explained the 6-foot-10 forward. “We’ve played against those other guys for the past six or seven months. They know our favorite moves, they know all the plays we’re going to run, they know everything … so it’s kind of hard.

“But it’s going to help get us to the point where we want to be in a couple of months.”

Morrison, who was guarded closely — and intensely — by Knight, concurred.

“He can guard me better than anybody,” he said of Knight, “because he knows everything I’m going to do. So, that’s tough. But it’s still fun to compete against your buddies — laugh when you get ‘em, and get laughed right back at when they get you.”

To a man, the players seemed impressed with their new arena, even though the crowd was relatively reserved and justifiably confused about which team to back.

“It’s great,” Turiaf said the Bulldogs’ new digs. “When I first stepped on the court I was like, ‘Oh my God, where am I?’

“I just starting picturing us playing Pepperdine with 6,000 here painting The Kennel red. Whoo-eee! I don’t want to be Pepperdine.”