GU still has a shot at WCC title

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The chase, thanks to an unexpected assist from Loyola Marymount, is over for the University of Gonzaga men’s basketball team.

All the Bulldogs need to worry about now is taking care of business in this evening’s showdown against San Diego, and they can lay claim to at least a share of a seventh consecutive West Coast Conference regular-season championship.

Tipoff is set for 7, and GU (20-10 overall, 10-3 in the WCC) comes in tied with Santa Clara atop the league standings following a crazy Saturday that saw the Zags hold off San Francisco 86-79 in overtime to finally catch SCU (20-8, 10-3), which was upset by Loyola Marymount 67-66 in Los Angeles.

Still, finding a way past San Diego (16-12, 6-7) won’t be easy, considering all of the trouble the Bulldogs have had against the Toreros on the road in recent years.

GU is a solid 7-1 against USD in the Jenny Craig Pavilion, which opened in the fall of 2000. But four of its wins came by margins of three points or less.

“San Diego always gives us a rough time in their building,” admitted Sean Mallon, the Bulldogs’ fifth-year senior forward. “They always seem to step it up a little bit and play outside of themselves, almost.”

The Toreros, who are 9-4 at home this season after dumping visiting Portland 82-76 on Saturday, have been paced recently by the senior duo of Nir Cohen and Ross DeRogatis, who combined for 41 points against the Pilots. Cohen, a 6-foot-7 center from Israel, matched his career-best scoring effort by dropping 23 points on UP, while DeRogatis, a tough-minded 6-1 shooting guard, added 18.

And both will be making their final home-court appearances this evening.

“They always seem to play great against us,” Zags coach Mark Few said of the Toreros, who lost to the Zags 91-82 in Spokane late last month. “They have the ability to score the ball well, inside and out, and they’re always a handful for us.

“Plus, it’ll be Senior Night down there, so we’ll have to play like crazy again to make things happen.”

DeRogatis, who played for a year at Oklahoma State before transferring to USD, scored 23 points in the Toreros’ earlier loss to GU, knocking down four of eight 3-point attempts. He currently leads USD in scoring with an average of just over 15 points per game.

“He’s a tough, gritty little competitor,” Few said of DeRogatis, whose average of 2.78 made 3-pointers per game was leading the WCC heading into last weekend. “If you leave him open on stuff, he makes you pay. He’s had a huge impact on their success – huge.”

Despite what happens in tonight’s game, the Bulldogs have assured themselves of at least a No. 2 seed and a bye into the semifinals of the WCC Tournament, which starts on Friday in Portland’s Chiles Center.

“That’s nice,” Mallon said of the bye. “Whenever you can cut (the tournament) down to two games, it’s a big advantage. It’s a lot easier to look at it that way – just two games, instead of having to struggle for your life through the whole thing.

“But we’re not thinking much about that right now. We’re still trying to win as many games as we can and keep the momentum we’ve built up going.”