Zags can bank on Morrison

SEATTLE – Did he call it?

That was the question most people wanted answered Saturday afternoon after Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison banked in a difficult 3-point shot with 2.5 seconds left in the game to lift the Bulldogs to a riveting 64-62 men’s basketball win over Oklahoma State.

Morrison’s clutch bucket, which was launched over a pair of Cowboys defenders from deep on the right wing, capped a ragged but immensely entertaining Battle in Seattle showdown that was witnessed by a regional CBS television audience and a KeyArena crowd of 13,644.

Afterward, Morrison claimed his game-winning bank shot from just inside the NBA 3-point line came off exactly as planned.

“It felt good,” said the 6-foot-8 junior preseason All-American, who finished with a game-high 25 points and six rebounds to help the ninth-ranked Zags (6-2) overcome a 10-point halftime time deficit and reel in Eddie Sutton’s young but talented Cowboys (6-3).

“It looked like it was going in and it did,” Morrison added. “I’ve shot that shot many a time. Not that I bank it every time, but I had the angle. I wasn’t surprised. I knew I was going to make it.”

Derek Raivio, GU’s injured point guard who missed his second straight game with a badly bruised back and hip, walked by as Morrison was holding court with the media and vouched for his teammate.

“He called it. I heard him,” Raivio said.

Bulldogs coach Mark Few didn’t seem as convinced, even though he liked the way the final play was executed.

“We drew up the last play to put that ball in (the hands) of the best offensive player in America,” Few explained. “And that’s what the best offensive player in America does to win the game, is to make that shot.

“Was it lucky? Yeah, but you know what? That kid makes shots. That’s what he does – and he does it better than anybody in the country.”

Freshman point guard Jeremy Pargo, who again started in place of Raivio, said he felt good about Morrison’s shot from the moment he dribbled around J.P. Batista’s screen and pulled up to let it fly.

“His new name should be ‘Midrange’ Morrison,” Pargo said. “There’s no way he’s going to miss that shot. In that situation and from 25 feet out with two guys draped all over him, it’s almost a 99 percent shot for him.

“I’ll take that any day.”

Sutton shook Morrison’s hand after the game and said, “You’re a helluva player, kid.”

It was about all OSU’s venerable coach could do after watching Morrison and his teammates claw their way back from 40-28 early first-half deficit and keep their Battle in Seattle record spotless at 3-0.

The Cowboys, who lost four senior starters from last year’s team, used some startlingly aggressive defensive pressure to keep GU out of its offensive comfort zone throughout most the game. The Zags, who also got 17 points, nine rebounds and several big plays down the stretch from Batista, shot only 39.1 percent from the field and made only 18 field goals – seven less than their previous season-low total of 25.

“Oke State played incredible tonight,” Few said. “They were just harder than heck to score on consistently. They’re the toughest team, man for man, physically, that we’ve played all year.”

Sutton also liked his team’s effort.

“For the first 30 minutes, we played about as well as we can play,” he said. “I thought our defense was terrific. I thought in the second half – we’d forced 11 turnovers in the first and only two in the second – that we softened up a little bit. We let the ball, defensively, go inside to Batista too easily and didn’t support as well as we needed to.

“Then Morrison hits those two big shots.”

The last of which was so huge it all but overshadowed the equally clutch 3-pointer he made coming off a double screen on the left wing with 2:42 remaining. There was no bank opened on that one, which sliced OSU’s lead to 60-59 and put GU in position to take a 61-60 advantage on its next possession when Batista dropped in a nifty baseline jump hook.

The Cowboys, who got 19 points from Mario Boggan, regained the lead at 62-61 on a pair of Jamaal Brown free throws with 47 seconds left, and it looked as if they might hold on after Pargo had his layup try swatted away by Boggan with 14 ticks remaining.

The Zags fouled immediately, and Boggan missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation. GU grabbed the rebound and Morrison dribbled to the right wing to launch his heroic shot.

OSU, after taking a timeout, had a chance to win the game on a last-second, midcourt heave by JamesOn Curry, but the desperation shot bounced off the backboard as the final buzzer sounded.

OSU finished with 26 field goals, eight more than the Zags, but couldn’t overcome GU’s lopsided advantage at the foul line. The Bulldogs made 25 of 31 free throws to the Cowboys’ 6 of 7 and were whistled for eight fewer fouls than their opponent.

“That affects any team,” Sutton said of the foul discrepancy. “There are very few games you see that kind of difference. But that didn’t beat us.”

GU gets a much-needed week off before entertaining Virginia back in the McCarthey Athletic Center on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m., and Few is hoping to have Raivio back by then.

Gonzaga 64, Oklahoma St. 62

Percentages: FG .448, FT .857. 3-Point Goals: 4-9, .444 (Brown 2-4, Boggan 1-1, Eaton 1-1, Curry 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 4 (Moggan 2, Dove, Pettway). Turnovers: 16 (Curry 4, Boggan 4, Eaton 3, Dove, Cooper, Flemings, Pettway, Monds). Steals: 8 (Eaton 3, Boggan 3, Dove 2). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .391, FT .806. 3-Point Goals: 3-8, .375 (Morrison 2-4, Altidor-Cespedes 1-2, Pargo 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 5 (Batista 3, Mallon, Altidor-Cespedes). Turnovers: 13 (Pargo 4, Altidor-Cespedes 3, Batista 3, Morrison 2, Doudney). Steals: 7 (Altidor-Cespedes 4, Morrison 2, Pargo). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Oklahoma State 38, Gonzaga 28. A–13,644.