Zags bounce back
PORTLAND – Sean Mallon was on a mission Monday night.
Gonzaga’s fifth-year senior wanted desperately to erase the memory of the dreadful one-point, one-rebound effort he turned in a week earlier in a disappointing West Coast Conference road loss to Saint Mary’s.
He did it in a resounding way, scoring 17 points and muscling down six rebounds in leading the Bulldogs to an 80-68 win over a stubborn Portland team that seemed determined, from the opening tip, to reward a near-sellout Chiles Center crowd of 4,712 with an upset win.
Instead, the Pilots (6-15 overall, 2-3 in the WCC) were forced to settle for another splendid effort that came up a few points short as GU (13-7, 4-1) got back on track and retained its share of the conference lead.
“It was very good road win for us,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. “Any time you win by double figures on the road, you’ve got to be pleased.
“There were stretches of that game where we played very good offensively, and stretches where we were very solid on defense. And once we shored up the boards, that kind of gave us the cushion we needed.”
Mallon, who made 7 of 10 field-goal attempts, was one of five GU players to score in double figures. Senior guard Derek Raivio finished with a game-high 19 points, despite going just 5 for 16 from the field. Sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt added 14, while sophomore guard Jeremy Pargo and freshman wing Matt Bouldin each chipped in 10.
But it was Mallon, who seemed to come up big in the most crucial spots.
“That was the worst game of my career,” he said, looking back on the loss to Saint Mary’s, which snapped GU’s 30-game winning streak against WCC teams. “I had to make up for it. It was good to get back on the right track.”
Few was also pleased with the way Mallon responded.
“He bounced back really well,” he explained. “That (Saint Mary’s) game was very uncharacteristic of the way he’s been playing.”
Still, Portland managed to hang around most of the evening, thanks to the outside shooting for Darren Cooper and Taishi Ito, who combined for nine 3-pointers and 32 points.
“But you’ve got to give Gonzaga credit,” said Cooper, who finished with a team-high 17 points. “They hit shots and they outhustled us, and those are things we can’t let happen.”
Gonzaga shook off some early shooting issues to take a 37-22 halftime lead that they expanded to 44-27 just 3 minutes into the second period. But Portland, behind a couple of deep 3-pointers by Ito carved the Zags’ advantage to 45-38 just 2 minutes later and got the crowd back into the game.
It was shortly after that, however, that GU regained control by mounting an important 11-3 run. Heytvelt ignited the burst with a nifty jump hook from the baseline, Raivio drilled a fallaway jumper from the free-throw line and Kansas transfer Micah Downs, playing in only his third game as a Bulldog, added a 3-pointer from the right wing.
As it turned out, the Zags needed the extra separation, because Portland refused to buckle.
The Pilots knocked down 3-pointers on three straight possessions and then got a free throw from Sherrard Watson to trim GU’s lead to 62-55 with 5 minutes, 8 seconds remaining. But Mallon responded with a nice reverse move on the baseline that resulted in a bucket and ignited a run that sealed the deal for the Zags.
Portland managed to hang around for the better part of the first half, thanks to some solid shooting. The Pilots made six of their first 11 shots from the field and were trailing by two points with just more than 8 minutes left in the opening period.
But Gonzaga, which struggled early to find its collective shooting touch, used some good defensive work out of both its man-to-man and zone looks to limit Portland’s shot attempts.
As a result, the Bulldogs were able to overcome a miserable 5-for-19 start by disrupting UP’s half-court offense and forcing 10 first-half turnovers that led to 18 points.
The Zags used a pair of 3-pointers by Raivio to ignite an 8-2 run that produced a 28-20 lead and then scored the final nine points of the first half to forge their comfortable halftime lead.
Despite its slow start, GU finished the period shooting 41.4 percent, with Raivio scoring 11 points. Mallon added nine for the Bulldogs, while no one on Portland’s roster accounted for more than four.
The Zags return home to face San Francisco in the McCarthey Athletic Center on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. in what will be GU’s first home game with students on campus since Dec. 9, when the Bulldogs blistered Washington 97-77.