Morrison big on Big Monday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Adam Morrison claims he is confused, even a bit perplexed, about the way most of the inhabitants of the college basketball world seem to obsess over his scoring ability.

And then he goes and does something like he did on Monday night – in front a national ESPN2 television audience and 4,500 mostly hostile fans.

On a night when teammate J.P. Batista struggled to find points inside, Morrison, the nation’s top NCAA Division-I scorer, went off for 34 to lift 7th-ranked Gonzaga to an 81-68 West Coast Conference road win over Santa Clara.

The 6-foot-8 preseason All-American used another remarkable variety of moves to knock down 12 of his 20 field-goal attempts and 8 of 9 free throws as the Zags (12-3 overall, 2-0 in the WCC) beat the Broncos (8-6, 1-1) for the 11th consecutive time and sent the majority of those who had packed into the Leavey Center home shaking their heads.

Morrison’s performance helped celebrate the WCC’s debut on ESPN’s Big Monday and also vaulted him past three former Zags into 13th place on GU’s all-time scoring list with 1,361 points.

In addition, the Bulldogs got 18 points from junior point guard Derek Raivio and an 11-point-10 rebound double-double from Batista, who finished strongly after running into some early foul problems.

“We wanted to send a message to the league that we’re still here,” Morrison said following another riveting performance that also included six rebounds and five assists.

“I don’t want to lose sight of how amazing Adam is,” GU coach Mark Few said afterward. “but you almost come to expect this from him.

“It was another terrific effort, but it’s not like he has never done that before.”

Santa Clara, fresh off an impressive 87-77 win over Portland in Saturday night’s league opener, stuck with the Zags for almost three-quarters of the game, thanks, mainly, to some aggressive work on the boards and the production of senior forward Travis Niesen, who finished with 22 points.

But 8 minutes into the second half, GU used a 3-pointer by Raivio to launch a 7-2 run that put the Bulldogs in control for good. Morrison scored the last five points in the run, and when Batista finally got untracked and scored eight of his 11 points in the next 2 1/2 minutes, it was over.

“It’s was important that we finally got J.P. going,” admitted Few. “We just weren’t getting him enough touches early on.”

Santa Clara coach Dick Davey said he thought his team did a “reasonable” job of defending Batista early, but let him get away too many times in the second half.

Morrison, who came in averaging 27.6 points per game, tossed in 21 in the game’s opening 20 minutes, propelling the Bulldogs to a 39-34 halftime lead and moving past John Stockton (1,340) and Cory Violette (1,342) and Bill Suter (1,354) on GU’s career scoring list.

The 6-foot-8 junior had many in the pro-Broncos crowd bowing in homage to his dazzling assortment of moves that ranged from 3-point fall-away jump shots to difficult runners in the lane.

Still, Santa Clara could have been much closer – and quite possibly in the lead – had it not been for some early shooting woes. Granted, the Broncos seemed content in the early going to simply cast up long-range shots rather than challenge GU’s muscle inside.

But they still made only one of their first 11 field-goal tries and fell behind 9-3 before some of their perimeter jumpers started falling. During one stretch of the opening period, SCU made six of seven basket tries, including four 3-pointers, to take a 19-16 lead just a little over 10 minutes into the game.

However, Morrison, who had already thrown in 10 points by that time, responded by scoring 11 of the Zags next 13 to help erased the Broncos’ short-lived lead. He finished the half 8 of 13 from the field and also pulled down a team-high four rebounds.

Sean Mallon and Raivio each added eight first-half points for the Zags, while Brody Angley paced the Broncos with nine.

Batista, the Zags’ second-leading scorer, was held scoreless in the opening period when he took only one shot before picking up his second foul just 7 minutes into the game and spending the rest of the half watching from the bench.

SCU attempted 16 first-half 3-pointers and made five, but still closed the half shooting just 35.3 percent (12 of 34) to GU’s 55.6 (15 of 27).

The Bulldogs return home to face Pepperdine in a Saturday night WCC showdown that will tip off at 8:30 p.m. in the McCarthey Athletic Center. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

GU has beaten Santa Clara 10 straight and leads series 32-29.

Gonzaga 81, Santa Clara 68

Percentages: FG .509, FT .857. 3-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Raivio 4-7, Morrison 2-5, Mallon 1-3, Altidor-Cespedes 0-2). Blocked Shots: 2 (Batista, Pargo). Turnovers: 15 (Morrison 6, Batista 2, Pendergraft 2, Mallon, Altidor-Cespedes, Raivio, Pargo, Gurganious). Steals: 6 (Batista 3, Gurganious 2, Knight).

Percentages: FG .397, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 8-26, .308 (Henke 2-5, Angley 2-5, Rohe 2-6, Kaempf 1-1, Johnson 1-8, Niesen 0-1). Blocked Shots: 1 (Henke). Turnovers: 13 (Niesen 5, Henke 3, Angley 3, Johnson, Denison). Steals: 12 (Angley 6, Niesen 3, Rohe 2, Henke).

Halftime–Gonzaga 39, Santa Clara 34. A–4,500.