Little Bulldog came up big

Not to make light of the heavy contributions made by Adam Morrison and J.P. Batista, but it was the smallest member of Gonzaga’s “Big Three” who came up huge in Monday night’s 92-80 West Coast Conference men’s basketball win over Loyola Marymount.

Derek Raivio, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-3 junior point guard, erupted for 22 first-half points and then politely deferred to Morrison and Batista as the sixth-ranked Zags (14-3 overall, 4-0 in the WCC) won their 32nd consecutive home game and took over sole possession of first place in the conference standings.

Raivio, who took only three shots in the second half, finished with 24 points, three assists and four steals to help Gonzaga turn back the persistent Lions (6-12, 3-1) and send home happy nearly all of the 6,000 fans who packed into GU’s McCarthey Athletic Center.

“Derek’s capable of going off, as everybody can see,” said Morrison, the nation’s leading NCAA Division I scorer, who finished with a team-high 30 points – 20 of which came in the second half. “It was good to see him get it going again. We got the ball to him, and he was going to work.

“It was like he was playing open gym.”

It wasn’t actually that easy, but Raivio, who was 9 for 12 from the field and 4 for 5 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes of the game, admitted he was getting some pretty good looks against LMU’s defense – especially in transition.

“I just got in the flow and felt good out there with the ball in my hands,” he said. “That’s how I operate best, is in the open floor. That’s how open gym is for me. I just play loose and free and try to let it happen.”

Rodney Tention, the Lions’ first-year coach, said he thought his team did a little better job of locating Raivio in the second half.

“But it might have been that he was just a little more passive and looking to get the ball to Morrison,” Tention added.

“In the second half, I had to pick up Adam and J.P. at little bit,” Raivio said of Morrison and Batista, who scored 13 second-half points and finished with a 25-point, 13-rebound double-double, the ninth of this career. “Adam really found his groove in the second half and kind of carried us over the hump.”

Morrison, who came in averaging 28.2 points per game, made only 4 of 9 first-half basket tries, but scored 11 of GU’s first 12 points following intermission to put the Bulldogs ahead 65-47.

“I didn’t shoot the ball as well as I’d like tonight,” said the 6-foot-8 junior shooting guard. “The first half I was rushing it too much and trying to take too quick of shots. In the second half, I kind of let the game come to me and took shots on my terms.

“That’s when I started scoring again.”

Despite the early scoring of Raivio and Morrison’s big second half, the Zags never put the Lions away, thanks, mainly, to the outside shooting of senior guard Wes Wardrop, who scored a career- and game-high 31 points for LMU.

Junior forward Matthew Knight added 18 points for the surprising Lions, who came into the game tied with the Bulldogs for first place in the conference and still maintain a half-game lead over San Francisco (6-10, 2-1) for second place.

“You never want to lose, but there’s no doubt, now, in my mind that we can compete,” Tention said. “When we play as a team, we can compete with anybody, I don’t care who it is.”

But Tention added that his Lions still have some strides to take before they can expect to challenge the Zags on any given night.

“Batista was named WCC player of the week for averaging 26 points and 10.5 rebounds during the Zags’ two wins. The honor was the second of his career and his first this season. Morrison has been honored three times.

Gonzaga 92, LMU 80

Percentages: FG .444. FT .696. 3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Worthy 3-5, Wardrop 5-8, Ziri 0-3, Montgomery 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (Ayer, Montgomery). Turnovers: 19 (Knight 2, Ayer 2, Worthy, Wardrop 3, Ziri 2, Montgomery 2, Haywood 2, Brown 3). Steals: 8 (Knight 2, Worthy, Wardrop, Ziri 3, Haywood). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .531, FT .818. 3-Point Goals: 6-12, .500 (Morrison 1-3, Mallon 1-1, Raivio 4-8). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (Altidor-Cespedes, Raivio). Turnovers: 17 (Morrison 6, Batista 6, Altidor-Cespedes, Raivio 4). Steals: 13 (Morrison, Batista, Mallon, Altidor-Cespedes 2, Raivio 4, Pargo, Knight, Pendergraft 2). Technical Fouls: None.

Halftime–Gonzaga 53, Loyola Marymount 44. A–6,000.