No doubt about it

PORTLAND – In the opinion of Gonzaga’s David Pendergraft, this year’s team has belonged to Derek Raivio since the season started.

But Raivio insists it wasn’t until the legal problems that resulted in the suspension of sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt first surfaced that he quit deferring, once and for all, to anyone else on the basketball court.

And on Monday night, in front a Chiles Center crowd of 4,621, Raivio experienced his finest moment in his four years at GU by scoring a season-high 28 points and leading the Bulldogs to a tough 77-68 victory over Santa Clara in the championship game of the West Coast Conference tournament.

Raivio, a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Vancouver, made eight of 12 field-goal attempts and finished a perfect 10 for 10 from the foul line as the top-seeded and regular-season champion Zags (23-10) claimed the WCC’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year and assured their ninth consecutive invitation to college basketball’s premier event.

“He strapped us on,” GU coach Mark Few said of Raivio, who also contributed a team-high four assists and three steals to the victory, which avenged a McCarthey Athletic Center loss to the second-seeded Broncos (21-10) during the regular season. “He did what every great senior we’ve had at Gonzaga has done here.

“He played the best game he’s ever played in the biggest moment and when we needed it most. That’s what you want your seniors to do, and he did it. He strapped us on his back and delivered us.”

The Bulldogs came into this year’s tournament fighting for their post-season lives after losing the immensely talented Heytvelt to a team-imposed suspension following his arrest on drug possession charges back on Feb. 9.

It was an incident that might have torn some teams apart. But Raivio, who waited his turn behind past team leaders like Blake Stepp, Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison, simply refused to let that happen on his watch.

And on Monday he was aptly rewarded for giving the Zags another chance in the NCAAs by being named the most valuable player in this year’s WCC tournament.

“Josh was really helping us with his offense and rebounding when he got in trouble,” Raivio said looking back on the incident that so dramatically changed his outlook. “I kind of looked around after that and realized we didn’t have too many guys putting the ball up and being real productive.

“So I just figured it was my time. There was no one else to look to, so I figured it was my time to step up and fill some shoes.”

Against the Broncos, Raivio was as solid as he’s been as a Zag. And the Bulldogs benefited, as well, from some major contributions from Raivio’s appreciative teammates.

Starting freshman guard Matt Bouldin scored 14 points and backup forward Micah Downs and Pendergraft – who were also named to the all-tournament team – each added 12, with Downs pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds to record his second straight double-double.

But most of the post-game talk centered on Raivio.

“He was phenomenal,” said Santa Clara coach Dick Davey, who has announced his resignation effective at the end of the season. “The darn guy. The last few games he hasn’t been looking to shoot it much, and we were kind of hoping he might stay in that mode tonight, but he didn’t.

“He always seems to do that against us. For some reason, he lights up when he sees the Broncos.”

“He’s our best player, Heytvelt or not,” added Pendgraft. “From the very beginning this was his team. Everyone looks up to him as a leader and for the way he plays on the floor. The Josh thing just kind of opened everyone’s eyes, because it was such a hard thing to deal with.”

“For him to accomplish this, it’s amazing. He’s my best friend. He’s like my brother, and I’m extremely happy for him.”

Raivio, who was a part of GU’s previous three WCC championship teams, said his year’s win was his favorite, “by far.”

“All the guys on our team are like brothers and we’ll do anything for each other,” he explained. “That’s why it feels so good.”

Santa Clara did what it could to snap the Bulldogs’ run of tournament titles, shooting lights out from 3-range to take an early 25-18 lead. The Broncos made 12 of their first 19 shots, including six of eight 3-pointers before GU kicked up the defensive heat.

Scott Dougherty, who finished with 16 points, and Joey Kaemph, who added 13, were responsible for five of SCU’s first six treys.

“That was one thing we were concentrating on – not letting Kaemph and Dougherty and those guys get going from outside, because that’s what killed us at our place,” Pendergraft said. “They starting hitting early, but I thought we did a good job after that of taking away their 3s, and they really struggled after that.”

Gonzaga opened up a 48-38 lead early in the second half but could never competently shake the Broncos. And in the end, it took six clutch free throws from Raivio to smooth out the problems his teammates were having from the foul line and nail down the win.

The Bulldogs will learn their NCAA seeding, game site and first-round opponent on Sunday.