Bulldogs eke it out
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The adversity kept mounting for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team. The foul trouble to key players. The errant free-throw and 3-point shooting.
Not to mention the fact that Western Kentucky had erased GU’s halftime lead and seemed to take control for most of the second half. But the Bulldogs battled back and used a series of hustle plays to finally subdue the Hilltoppers 74-71 in front of a mostly pro-GU crowd of 8,383 Thursday night at Sullivan Arena.
The win moves 14th-ranked Gonzaga (4-0) into the Great Alaska Shootout semifinals against Texas Tech (3-1) at 9 tonight. The Red Raiders routed Alaska Anchorage 74-47 on Thursday. Virginia Tech faces Butler in the other semifinal.
“That’s the best thing we can say about that game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “Western Kentucky brings a lot of adversity – I’ve been telling people all along they’re going to end up winning 25-26 games. They have some high-level players and they bring a lot of things, the trap and the pressure that we haven’t seen or been able to simulate in practice. But we fought through it.”
After Gonzaga led 36-34 at halftime, the Hilltoppers scored the first eight points of the second half. WKU (3-1) built its biggest lead, 50-43, with 13:13 left before the Bulldogs rallied. It started with freshman center Robert Sacre’s dunk and a pair of free throws by Matt Bouldin, who was only 2 of 7 at the stripe in the first half. He wasn’t alone in his poor shooting as GU was 10 of 20 at the foul line before Bouldin connected. Gonzaga went 8 for 8 at the foul line in the last 12:15.
The Bulldogs trailed 57-51 when they went to a smaller lineup and spread the floor. The offense perked up from there as GU found openings working off the dribble and for cutters down the lane. The Zags shot 56.5 percent in the second half and they had few empty possessions in the final seven minutes.
“When we spread the floor it opened things up, back-door cuts and driving lanes,” said Jeremy Pargo, who rebounded from early foul trouble to score 12 points and hand out four assists. “It opened things up for us.”
Still, Gonzaga wouldn’t have pulled off the comeback without some extra effort in the trenches. David Pendergraft gave GU the lead for for good when he scored on a back-door cut with 4 minutes left. On GU’s next possession, Pendergraft grabbed a loose ball and his putback had the Bulldogs in front 70-66.
WKU’s Courtney Lee made a floater in the lane and then one of two free throws to trim Gonzaga’s lead to 70-69 with 1:55 left. Again, GU came up with a hustle play as Micah Downs gathered in the ball after Pargo’s shot was blocked. Downs was fouled and made both free throws.
Lee had a chance to tie it but his 3-pointer from the corner bounced off the rim and Pendergraft pulled down the rebound. Bouldin’s reverse layup was blocked, but Sacre, who was inserted less than two minutes before when Abdullahi Kuso fouled out, grabbed the ball and scored in the lane, giving GU a 74-69 lead with 20 seconds to play.
“That play was enormous,” said Bouldin, who scored a team-high 18 points and filled in at the point for most of the first half when Pargo was whistled for his second foul.
WKU scored on a tip-in in the closing seconds to make the final 74-71.
“We had a couple of examples where it wasn’t going great and instead of dwelling on it the guys made positive plays,” Few said. “Certainly Micah and Matt did that, and Jeremy got off to a slow start with a couple of turnovers and the fouls, but he came back. Robert, with the energy he brought, was huge.”