Bulldogs’ streak survives

Thanks to a gutsy Gonzaga comeback and a game-winning free throw by Sean Mallon with just three-tenths of a second left on the clock, the talking heads at ESPN won’t have to tear up this weekend’s College Game Day script afterall.

Yes, they can go ahead and gush all they want about the fifth-ranked Bulldogs’ school-record 35-game home-court winning streak when they roll into town for Saturday’s non-conference showdown with Stanford.

But for the better part of GU’s Monday night street fight with West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary’s, it looked like the Zags’ mighty streak may be history.

Then came the riveting comeback and Mallon’s pressure free throw, which lifted the Bulldogs to a wild 62-61 victory and sent a sellout crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center home happy and breathless.

Mallon, who finished with 10 points, hit his clutch free throw after missing the first of a two-shot opportunity, and gave league-leading GU (19-3 overall, 9-0 in the WCC) it’s 10th straight win.

He also made his head coach, Mark Few, one relieved individual.

“Everybody can talk about wanting to be up there at the end of the game,” Few said. “But until you’re up there with no time on the clock and the score tied … that truly shows how tough a competitor he is.

“You’ve got to have some toughness, guts, confidence and a lot of heart to step up and make that shot to win the game. And that’s what Sean Mallon is all about. He’s a winner; always has been.”

Mallon, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, got his free throw chances after taking an inbounds pass under his own basket with a half-second left in the game and taking it strong to the hoop, drawing a foul from Saint Mary’s Daniel Kickert on the way.

The officials, after calling the foul, checked a replay monitor to make sure it had occurred before time ran out. They ruled it had, and Mallon responded.

His first free throw bounced off the front of the rim. The second was pure.

“The first one, I don’t know,” Mallon said afterward. “Maybe it was nerves, but I don’t think I realized how tired I was. I just short-armed it. On the second once, I knew what I needed to do.

“I just wanted to get it and shoot it.”

Mallon’s foul shot capped a furious GU rally, fueled by J.P. Batista and Adam Morrison, who combined for 41 points. Batista, who finished with a game-high 21 and 11 rebounds, scored five in the final 61/2 minutes, and Morrison, who finished with 20, added six as the Bulldogs battled back from a 56-51 deficit.

Saint Mary’s (10-11, 3-6) got 15 points from Kickert and 13 from Wayne Hunter, but couldn’t close the deal.

“You gotta keep making shots,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said. “I thought we’d play well. The matchups were good.”

Gonzaga, despite a sluggish opening 20 minutes, seemed on the verge of putting the Gaels away when it opened a 49-42 lead on a Morrison 3-pointer midway through the second half. But the Zags fell victim to their own impatience, launching several quick shots that led to long rebounds and runout baskets for the Gaels, who got eight points – his only eight of the game – from freshman forward Diamon Simpson, and put together a 14-2 run that put them back in the lead at 56-51 with 6:43 left.

That’s when GU rallied back.

“We explored some options further into our offense and found some things,” Few said. “And I thought our defense was solid down the stretch, too.”

The Bulldogs came out surprisingly flat, considering how much energy they had shown in Saturday’s 85-71 rout of Santa Clara.

West Coast Conference Gonzaga 62, Saint Mary’s 61

Percentages: FG .418, FT .647. 3-Point Goals: 4-16 (Kickert 1-4, Collins 1-1, Golden 0-2, Winston 0-3, Hunter 2-6) Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (Kickert, Golden). Turnovers: 14 (Kickert, Collins 2, Sholberg 3, Glden, Winston 4, Hunter 2, Simpson) Steals: 4 (Collins, Golden, Winston, Simpson). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .442, FT .706. 3-Point Goals: 4-14 (Morrison 3-6, Batista 1-1, Raivio 0-4, Pargo 0-1, Knight 0-1, Pendergraft 0-1) Team Rebounds: 32. Blocked Shots: 2 (Morrison, Batista). Turnovers: 14 (Morrison, Batista 2, Mallon 4, Altidor-Cespedes 2, Raivio 2, Pargo 2, Gurganious) . Steals: 6 (Altidor-Cespedes, Raivio 3, Pargo 2)

Halftime–Saint Mary’s 33, Gonzaga 30. A–6,000.