No. 5 Zags play the part

For the first time in more days than basketball coach Mark Few would probably like to count, his Gonzaga Bulldogs played up to their national ranking, rather than down to the level of an overmatched opponent.

The fifth-ranked Zags, led by the scoring of Adam Morrison, J.P. Batista and Sean Mallon, overcame a slow start Saturday night and blew away West Coast Conference rival Santa Clara 85-71 in front of another sellout crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Morrison, the nation’s leading Division-I scorer, dumped in a game-high 24 points, Batista added 21 and Mallon, despite some second-half foul problems that limited his minutes, finished with a season-high 15 as GU (18-3, 8-0) won its ninth straight and maintained its two-game lead over Loyola Marymount in the conference standings.

“It was a good win,” Few said afterward. “We played some good stretches of basketball there, where we combined both (good) defense and (good) offense. That provided us a little gap, which, quite frankly, we have done a great job of all year.”

Santa Clara (8-12, 1-7), which got 17 points from sophomore forward Mitch Henke, lost for the seventh straight time and dropped its 12th in a row to GU, which ran its nation’s-best home-court winning streak to 34 and kept its two-year record at McCarthey perfect at 22-0.

“They’re hard to guard,” Broncos coach Dick Davey said of the Zags. “They’ve got great balance, they’re very intelligent guys and they’re very physical on the boards – a lot of little things that go unnoticed sometimes. … They’ve got a lot of attributes that make them very hard to play.”

Few used all 13 players on his roster in the lopsided win, giving valuable minutes to freshman guards Jeremy Pargo and Larry Gurganious. Pargo finished with two points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Gurganious added four points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Both contributed soaring fast-break dunks that helped keep the crowd energized.

“I thought the two freshmen really gave us a jump every time we inserted them into the game,” Few said. “And that’s a good thing. They did a good job of finding J.P., too.”

Still, it was Mallon’s contributions on both ends of the court that pleased Few the most.

The 6-foot-9 junior forward made 4 of 6 field-goal attempts and 6 of 7 free throws. He also added four rebounds and did a splendid defensive job on SCU’s Travis Nielsen, helping to hold the Broncos’ scoring leader, who has been hampered of late by a bruised back, to 14 points.

“Sean was really solid tonight,” Few said. “I thought he helped us in a lot of areas. He made solid decisions on offense, as far as moving the ball, and he stepped up and knocked down open jumpers.

“He did a nice job of defending, too.”

Mallon, whose previous season high was 12 points, said he didn’t think his approach against the Broncos was any different than it has been all season.

“I got some open shots and knocked them down, basically,” he explained. “I don’t think there was anything different about it. It was just a matter of taking open shots and having them fall.”

The game was marred by 52 fouls, which resulted in 67 free-throw attempts.

GU 85, Santa Clara 71

Percentages: FG .434, FT .600. 3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Henke 1-1, Rohe 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Angley 1-6, Kaempf 0-2). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked Shots: 2 (Denison 2). Turnovers: 16 (Denison 3, Rohe 3, Johnson 3, Henke 2, Angley 2, Niesen 2, Bryant). Steals: 7 (Angley 5, Denison, Henke). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .466, FT .688. 3-Point Goals: 9-21, .429 (Morrison 4-7, Raivio 2-5, Mallon 1-2, Knight 1-2, Altidor-Cespedes 1-3, Pargo 0-1, Doudney 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 1 (Batista). Turnovers: 13 (Batista 4, Altidor-Cespedes 3, Pendergraft 3, Morrison, Raivio, Gurganious). Steals: 10 (Raivio 4, Pargo 2, Morrison, Batista, Gurganious, Knight).

Halftime–Gonzaga 48, Santa Clara 32. A–6,000.