Bulldogs floor Pilots
Mark Few had plenty of praise for his Gonzaga Bulldogs following Monday night’s 87-67 men’s basketball rout of West Coast Conference rival Portland.
But he probably summed up his team’s effort, efficiency and execution best with one short statement.
“That’s the way you handle Senior Night,” GU’s eighth-year head coach said just moments after watching his Zags send seniors Derek Raivio and Sean Mallon out with a lopsided victory in their final appearance in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
The Bulldogs (19-10 overall, 9-3 in the WCC) used the undersized, new-look lineup they adopted following the indefinite suspension of sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt earlier this month to overwhelm the Pilots (8-20, 4-8) and thoroughly delight another sellout crowd of 6,000.
Raivio finished with a team-high 20 points, Matt Bouldin added 18 and Micah Downs and David Pendergraft both contributed career-high scoring efforts as the Zags won for the first time in three games and pulled to within a game of league-leading Santa Clara (20-7, 10-2), which was idle on Monday.
The win, coupled with San Francisco’s 92-83 loss to Saint Mary’s, assured the Bulldogs of at least a No. 2 seed in the WCC turnament, which will be played in Portland’s Chiles Center March 2-5.
But Downs, a sophomore shooting guard who has been forced to play power forward in the absence of Heytvelt, made it clear the Zags aren’t ready to settle for no stinking No. 2 seed.
“We’re really gelling right now,” said the 6-foot-8 sophomore and Kansas transfer, who scored 15 of his 19 points in the first 20 minutes of Monday’s game to help GU put the Pilots away early. “And if we can just keep this going, we’re going to be really tough to beat and surprise a lot of people.
“We’re the underdogs now, going into the rest of the season. But if we just keep playing like this – playing our hearts out, we’ll be fine. I can’t wait for the next couple of games so we win the conference and get started on our NCAA tournament run.”
Next up is a tough road trip to the Bay Area and Southern California, where the Bulldogs will take on San Francisco on Saturday and San Diego on Monday in their final two regular-season games.
And following Saturday’s splendid effort in a heart-wrenching 78-77 overtime loss to No. 8 Memphis and Monday’s thumping of Portland, the Zags seem poised to finish with a rush.
“It feels good, really good,” Few said of the way his undermanned team has played since Heytvelt, a 6-11 sophomore forward and the Bulldogs’ top rebounder, was suspended indefinitely after being arrested on drug possession charges on Feb. 9. “To be able to actually get one in the left (win) column is huge.
“We played great the other night (against Memphis), too, but we didn’t get rewarded.”
That wasn’t the case on this night, however, as GU humbled the Pilots with a fast-paced offense and suffocating defense that produced six steals and seven blocked shots – including five by junior forward Abdullahi Kuso, who also contributed a team-high nine rebounds.
Pendergraft, a 6-6 junior wing, who spent most of his 27 minutes banging on the low blocks as the Zags’ center, put up an impression statistical line that included 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“It was the kind of effort you want from your guys to send your seniors off,” Few said.
“It’s kind of like pick-up ball out there now,” explained Raivio. “Everybody is playing to their strengths, and it gives other teams a lot of matchup problems – on defense, too, where we can get out and pressure guys with our smaller lineup.
“It’s a lot of fun sharing the ball and getting the running game going like we have the last couple of games. It’s a new team with a new look, and a lot of positive things have happening because of it.”
The only downside to Senior Night was the plight of Mallon, able to play only five minutes because of an ankle sprain he suffered in the loss to Memphis.
The fifth-year senior, who has not missed a game since redshirting during his first year at GU, started the game but was in obvious pain and played only those five minutes before retiring to the bench.
Few classily reinstated him during a timeout late in the game, but pulled him back off the court – to a standing ovation – before play could resume.
“It was an OK way to go out,” an obviously disappointed Mallon said. “The guys stepped up huge tonight – Micah, Pendergraft, Kuso, Bouldin, everyone. And Ravs is always there.
“It was frustrating not to be able to get in there and contribute, but at the same time, it was pretty special to watch all those guys doing such a great job.”
Saint Mary’s 92, San Francisco 83: Brett Collins hit 10 of 13 shots from the floor and scored a teram-high 26 points to lead the Gaels (14-14, 6-6 WCC) past the Dons (12-16, 7-5) in Moraga, Calif., in the only other WCC game Monday night.
Manny Quezada had a game-high 33 point for San Francisco.