Bulldogs survive

SAN DIEGO – It was the kind of game where a couple of West Coast Conference player-of-the-year candidates couldn’t buy a field goal and a 90-percent free-throw shooter clanked a pair after a technical foul. The kind of game where both offenses never were in sync and neither team could make enough baskets to sustain a game-turning run.

But you won’t hear Gonzaga complain. The win column doesn’t have room for style points.

The Bulldogs relied on defense, rebounding and more defense to snag a key WCC road win, holding off San Diego 59-55 in front of a sellout crowd of 5,100 Monday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The victory keeps Gonzaga (21-6, 10-1 WCC) in a first-place tie with Saint Mary’s (23-3, 10-1), which crushed Pepperdine 100-64. The Toreros are 15-12 and 8-2, both losses coming to the Bulldogs.

“You’re going to have to win those kinds of games, I told the team, in March,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “Not all of them are going to be up and down at our pace. There were times I thought we could have stretched out the lead, but I thought our guys showed a lot of poise and toughness.”

Gonzaga led by nine with 5 minutes left and eight with 2:12 remaining after Steven Gray, a sure-fire free-throw shooter who missed two following a technical foul on the San Diego crowd, made two at the stripe. But Trumaine Johnson drilled one from beyond the arc and Danny Brown added another 3, pulling USD within 54-52 with 58.4 seconds left. Johnson, who had made three 3-pointers all season, hit five 3-pointers in the final 11:14.

The Bulldogs responded when Matt Bouldin went back-door and created just enough space for a Jeremy Pargo pass. Bouldin hit a reverse layin and Gonzaga was back in front by four with 30 seconds remaining.

“There sure wasn’t a lot of room there,” Bouldin said. “I saw Jeremy was in trouble, my guy had his head turned and Jeremy made a great pass.”

Abdullahi Kuso, who had two big blocks in the final 2:30, swatted Johnson’s shot, eventually gathered in a defensive rebound and hit a pair of free throws to hike GU’s lead to 58-52. Johnson struck again from long distance, but Bouldin, who finished with a team-high 13 points, made one of two free throws with 5.3 seconds left to seal the victory.

San Diego’s Brandon Johnson, who scored 27 points in San Diego’s 80-70 loss to Gonzaga last month, made just 2 of 15 shots, including 2 of 9 3-pointers. He finished with eight points, nine below his average. Both of Johnson’s made field goals came with the shot clock dwindling, including one over 6-foot-10 Austin Daye’s outstretched hand.

“Brandon and Jeremy have a lot of similarities in that they feel like when the ball is in their hands they can take it over, and a lot of times they can. But it also is what gets them in trouble sometimes,” Toreros coach Bill Grier said.

“And when he starts to dribble, dribble, dribble, we end up kind of shutting down offensively, and yet you can’t take him out because you need him on the floor. He’s had a terrific year. He missed some good looks and made some tough ones – … you’d think it would be the other way around.”

Forward Gyno Pomare, a first-team All-WCC player last year, struggled against the Bulldogs for the second time. He was in foul trouble and finished with four points. He had eight in the loss in Spokane.

“Kuso did a great job and Josh (Heytvelt) played really good defense on him,” Few said. “He had to earn every shot he made.”

Pargo made only 3 of 11 shots, but contributed five rebounds and five assists. David Pendergraft continued his hot shooting of late by making 2 of 3 3-pointers and scoring 10 points. Kuso finished with six blocks and five rebounds. Austin Daye chipped in eight points and five boards, a stat GU won 41-34.

“That’s what it’s all about, getting stops toward the end,” Bouldin said. “We knew Gyno and Brandon were going to try to get going so we did our best to stop them, and some of their other guys stepped up … .”

Micah Downs hit a 3-pointer just before the horn sounded to give GU a 25-20 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs never trailed in the first half and quickly built a 14-3 lead with 11:51 remaining. But the Toreros slowly crawled back.

Gonzaga’s offense began to misfire. GU would go five minutes without a point and more than nine minutes without a field before Downs’ 3-pointer quieted a sell-out crowd that was on its feet. In between, though, Gonzaga was 6 of 6 at the free-throw line.

“I thought we did some pretty good things defensively, but we were a mess offensively and yet we had some looks that just didn’t go down,” Grier said.

Gonzaga 59, USD 55

Percentages: FG .404. FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (Pendergraft 2-3, Downs 2-4, Bouldin 1-4, Pargo 0-1, Gray 0-1, Daye 0-1, Heytvelt 0-1) Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 6 (Kuso 6). Turnovers: 17 (Heytvelt, Bouldin 4, Daye 2, Pendergraft, Kuso 3, Pargo 3, Downs, Gray, Gurganious) Steals: 6 (Heytvelt, Daye, Pendergraft, Kuso, Pargo 2). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .339. FT .500. 3-Point Goals: 10-24, .417 (T.Johnson 5-8, Brown 3-6, B.Johnson 2-9, Lewis 0-1) Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 7 (Pomare 4, Houston 2, Jackson). Turnovers: 10 (Pomare, Houston, B Johnson 2, Lewis, Jackson 3, T Johnson 2). Steals: 8 (Pomare, Jones, B Johnson 3, Jackson 3). Technical Fouls: None. Halftime–Gonzaga 25, San Diego 20. A–5,100.