Zags could use solid 4th scorer

Men’s basketball: The “Big Three” could use some company.

Matt Bouldin, Steven Gray and Elias Harris have been the cornerstones of Gonzaga’s offense most of the season, but they’re carrying a heavier burden through six West Coast Conference games.

All three have raised their scoring averages in Gonzaga’s 6-0 conference start. They’re responsible for 69.1 percent of Gonzaga’s WCC points, compared to 53.1 percent in 14 nonconference games.

In Thursday’s comeback victory over Santa Clara, the trio scored 29 of the Bulldogs’ 33 first-half points. They finished with 54 of 71 (76.1 percent). They’re the team’s most effective and versatile scorers, so naturally the offense runs through them and caters to their strengths. And Gonzaga isn’t struggling to score, averaging nearly 81 points in conference play.

Still, there’s room for others to contribute. The next opportunity comes tonight when Gonzaga faces San Francisco at 6:30 at War Memorial Gym.

“It kind of has been (those three),” head coach Mark Few said. “Rob (Sacre) has to get going here. We’re trying to get him some touches. We need to stick with him and I think he’ll break out pretty soon. We’ve been looking. We tried Bol (Kong), we tried ‘Meech’ (Demetri Goodson), Manny (Arop), and (Thursday) it was Manny.”

Jim Meehan

Lagat wins 8th Wanamaker Mile

Track and field: Former Washington State distance ace Bernard Lagat won the Wanamaker Mile for the eighth time, breaking Irish great Eamonn Coghlan’s Millrose Games record.

Lagat clocked 3 minutes, 56.34 seconds on Friday night at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in the 103rd edition of the meet. The American beat reigning Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop of Kenya by less than 2 seconds.

With Coghlan in attendance, the 35-year-old Lagat was content to hang behind Kiprop for nearly the entire race, making his move with exactly one lap to go.

“I wasn’t worried,” Lagat said. “Inside the race, I was feeling really comfortable.”

Afterward, Coghlan told him there is nobody else he would rather take his record.

“It ranks among the top,” the Kenyan-born Lagat said of a career that includes seven Olympic and world championship medals.

Associated Press