Pilots give Zags a fit

PORTLAND – The final score was to Gonzaga’s liking. The first 30 minutes, not so much.

Gonzaga rallied past upset-minded Portland 73-51 before a crowd of 4,527 at the Chiles Center on Monday night, a result that didn’t seem to correspond with how the West Coast Conference men’s basketball game was unfolding deep into the second half.

The Bulldogs trailed at the half and were down by a point with 11:46 left before outscoring the Pilots 34-11 the rest of the way.

“They were just beating us to every ball and we were very impatient on offense,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “To our guys’ credit we were able to turn the tables, but it was just a frustrating 25, 30 minutes.”

The 24th-rated Bulldogs (22-6, 11-1 WCC), who returned to the rankings after a nine-week absence, kept pace with No. 25 Saint Mary’s, a 61-54 winner over San Diego. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s (24-4, 11-1) collide Saturday at McCarthey Athletic Center with first place in the WCC on the line.

“We’re going to be at home against a team that we’re tied for first with,” said junior forward Josh Heytvelt, who had eight points and eight boards in 19 minutes. “We’re just exactly where we should be.”

Bulldogs senior forward David Pendergraft reached double figures for the fifth straight game. He had 13 points, sharing team-high honors with Jeremy Pargo. Micah Downs came off the bench to add 12 points and Heytvelt and Abdullahi Kuso combined for 16 points and 14 rebounds.

“The box score definitely doesn’t reflect how the game went, but we played really well over the last 12 minutes,” Downs said. “The coaches motivated us at halftime and one thing I said to the guys was, ‘We can’t give away our WCC championship. We’re a much better team and we can’t let somebody take it, especially when we’re in control.’ “

Gonzaga overcame an inspired Portland team that was playing without leading scorer Nik Raivio, who was out with a bone bruise after he banged knees with a teammate in practice Friday.

The Pilots (8-20, 2-10 WCC) found unexpected point production from Walter Thompson and Taishi Ito.

Thompson finished with 10 points, just his third double-figures game of the season. He hadn’t scored in a month, but he had eight in the first half as Portland led 29-27. Thompson had made only two 3-pointers in the eight WCC games he’d played, but he was 2 of 2 from long range in the first half.

Ito, who averages 5.4 points and was shooting just 26.6 percent, chipped in 10 points and made at least two tough shots with the shot clock about to expire. Robin Smeulders led the Pilots with 12 points.

Pargo scored all nine of his first-half points in the final 3:45 to trim an eight-point deficit to two at halftime.

“We came out lackadaisical, me in particular,” Pargo said. “We can’t come out like that. We’ve had several games where we came out like that and it’s never worked out for us in the first half when we do that. Once you play like that, you miss shots, you play out of character and turn the ball over.”

Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga’s leading scorer for the season, didn’t score until three minutes into the second half. He finished with nine points. Austin Daye, Gonzaga’s top scorer in WCC games, didn’t crack the scorebook until midway through the second half.

Gonzaga trailed 40-39 before Daye gave GU the lead for good with a 3-pointer – his only points – with 10:25 remaining.

The margin grew to eight on Downs’ 3-pointer with 7:56 left. Pendergraft hiked the advantage to 10 with a layup and Gonzaga continued to stretch its lead until the final buzzer.

Portland had the upper hand in rebounds for most of the game, but Gonzaga came back to win the battle on the glass, 37-27.

“Jeremy kind of got us going and we finally got back to sticking with the plan,” Few said. “We made simple plays, got some offensive boards and we held them to one shot and out and that drove their shooting percentage down.”

Gonzaga overcame a chilly start to finish 26 of 52 from the floor (50 percent). The Bulldogs made 13 of 15 free throws in the second half. Portland was 20 of 54 (37 percent) from the field and just 2 of 13 on 3-pointers in the second half.

Gonzaga 73, Portland 51

Percentages: FG .500. FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 6-20, .300 (Daye 1-3, Heytvelt 0-2, Bouldin 0-2, Pendergraft 1-4, Brown 1-1, Pargo 1-3, Downs 2-4, Gray 0-1) Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Daye, Kuso). Turnovers: 14 (Daye 3, Heytvelt, Bouldin 3, Kuso 2, Pargo 4, Sacre) Steals: 7 (Heytvelt 2, Bouldin 2, Gray 2, Sacre 1). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .370. FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 5-21, .238 (Carter 0-1, Ito 2-5, Moser 0-1, Niedermeyer 0-3, Thompson 2-3, Stohl 1-5, Watson 0-3) Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 3 (Knutson 2, Niedermeyer). Turnovers: 14 (Knutson 4, Ito 3, Smeulders 2, Hannibal, Niedermeyer, Thompson, Stohl, Watson) Steals: 2 (Ito, Hannibal). Technical Fouls: None. Halftime–Portland 29, Gonzaga 27. A–4,527.