Day after Portland

Good morning from Portland. We’ll get right to it, since my flight leaves in a few minutes!

The links: S-R and Oregonian game stories.

Onward with the day-after post from GU’s 67-64 victory over the Pilots. More below and check back later for a preview of Memphis.

—Let’s start with David Stockton, who entered with GU down 12-4 after four of Portland ’s five 3-pointers in the first five minutes. He directed Gonzaga’s offense and, as coach Mark Few pointed out, he was solid at the defensive end.

“Our offense runs better a lot of times when he’s in there and he did a nice job defensively,” Few said. “His hands were back and he wasn’t fouling.”

Stockton , along with Sam Dower, who had four points, two boards and two assists in 10 first-half minutes, and Robert Sacre helped Gonzaga get back into the contest. GU rallied from a 19-6 deficit to pull within 25-24. Portland led 34-28 at the break.

Stockton , Dower and Manny Arop replaced Demetri Goodson, Elias Harris and Mathis Mönninghoff in the starting lineup for the second half. Marquise Carter also came off the bench and contributed, scoring all seven of his points in a two-minute span.

“Coach Few was just like, ‘Build on what we did with the (first-half) comeback,’ ” Stockton said. “It was with our defense and ball pressure, and getting shots on our terms.”

Stockton, a redshirt freshman who was recently awarded a scholarship for at least the remainder of the season, had his best game as a Zag. That comes on the heels of two strong efforts in last week’s home stand.

Stockton fed Arop for a layup and later had a steal at midcourt and layup that gave Gonzaga a 46-41 lead. His 3-pointer late bumped GU’s lead to 63-56. (At one point in the second half, ex-Zag Matt Bouldin tweeted that Stockton was the best player on the floor.)

“He gambled on a couple of plays, but that’s ‘Stocks’,” Gray said. “He’s going to do that. He did a great job tonight and he’s been playing well all year. He’s given us a whole different look because his and Meech’s games are so different.”

Stockton played 34 minutes, all 20 of the second half. Asked if he cares whether he starts or comes off the bench, Stockton said diplomatically, “Doesn’t matter at all. I’ll do whatever they want me to do.”

—The lineup change at half, coupled with Gray going to the bench for nearly eight minutes, helped Gonzaga turn a 38-35 deficit into a 53-48 lead. When Luke Sikma made two foul shots to trim GU’s lead to five, Few summoned Gray and Sacre, who had a brief two-minute rest.

Gray committed a turnover before settling into a groove. He hit a 3, poked the ball away from Kramer Knutson, made a jumper, assisted on Stockton ’s 3 and then made four free throws in the final 11 seconds.

“I just tried to make simple plays,” Gray said. “I was trying not to force it, that’s something we’ve been working on, getting good team shots.”

It seemed to work.

“He tried to make plays and when he didn’t, he didn’t force anything,” Portland coach Eric Reveno said. “Fifteen points on nine shots is pretty darn good.”

Harris, too, seemed to respond pretty well to his benching. He hit a bank shot and a pair of free throws to extend Gonzaga’s lead to 53-43.

— Portland opened the game by making five straight 3s in the first 4:37, to be precise. Jared Stohl had three 3s and Nemanja Mitrovic two during the run, which dialed up the volume at the Chiles Center . (The run had the look of the Pilots’ 27-2 burst against Saint Mary’s last Saturday.) Mitrovic lost Mönninghoff with a crossover dribble out front and buried a 3. Few quickly subbed Mönninghoff out and the freshman forward never returned.

On one play, a loose ball ended up Stohl’s hands in the corner and he drained a 3-pointer.

“Other than that barrage at the start, and a lot of that was on loose balls and wasn’t out of their offense, we did a nice job defending Stohl and the other guys,” Few said. “To hold that team to 37 percent is quite an accomplishment.”

Stohl made 4 of 6 3s, Mitrovic 4 of 7 and Tim Douglas, who was 1 of 10 from the field at one point, finished strong (5 of 16, 3 of 6 3s). Portland still made 11 of 21 overall (52.4 percent), but it didn’t get nearly as many open looks in the final 35 minutes as Carter, Stockton, Arop and Gray did a better job of defending on the perimeter.

—Sacre has had bigger numbers in games this season, but it’s doubtful he’s put together a more complete game. Often working in heavy traffic in the lane, Sacre had 17 points, 12 rebounds (five offensive), four blocks and two steals. He committed just one turnover in 34 minutes.

He was pretty good at the other end, too. A week ago, Saint Mary’s guard Mickey McConnell maneuvered to the elbow of the free-throw line and hit a tough, leaning 15-footer over Sacre for the game-winner. A similar situation developed against the Pilots when Mitrovic tried to shake Sacre on the right wing with Portland down 63-59 and less than 30 seconds remaining.

Sacre stayed in front of Mitrovic, didn’t bite on fakes and swatted the sharp-shooter’s attempt from 22 feet away.

“He was kind of the guy who stayed steady throughout,” Few said.

STATS OF NOTE

—Sikma is the WCC’s leading rebounder (by a whopping 3 per game) for a reason. He collected 10 in the first half and finished with 16, eight offensive. He leads the conference with 11 double-doubles this season.

—GU had a 36-14 edge in points in the paint and a 29-2 advantage in bench points.

— Portland scored 17 points in the first five minutes and 17 in the last 15 minutes of the first half. Nine of those points came in the final 2:40.

— Stockton , listed at 5-11 and 152 pounds, blocked his first shot of the season. He pointed out that he now weighs 160 pounds.

—Both teams finished with 13 offensive rebounds. GU had 23 defensive boards to Portland ’s 18.

—Stohl played 39 of the 40 minutes. Four of Portland ’s five starters logged at least 33 minutes.

—GU didn’t make a 3-pointer until Carter connected with 13:52 left, to extend the Zags’ streak of games with a 3 to 584 (dating back to Jan. 27, 1993, at Portland .)

— Portland didn’t get a field goal from its bench. Gonzaga’s reserves made 10 field goals.

QUOTES

Few on going with a lineup minus Gray and Harris for a big portion of the second half: “We left those guys in there because they were making a run and doing a nice job.”

Reveno: “It should hurt a little bit, and it’s not because Gonzaga is Gonzaga or the record is what it is now. It’s because we’re in a conference race and trying to compete. It’s disappointing because I feel we could have made a few plays here or there and managed it a little better.”

Gray on the bench: “Just having that cast was big.”

Carter on the bench: “It felt really good. Our bench just tries to come into the game and play hard, stay with the intensity. Our bench play is really becoming more confident.”

Reveno: “It was a game of swings where we got up early and we didn’t manage that lead well. People will talk about, ‘Oh, that’s the night we could have got Gonzaga,’ but we lost to them by three last year. Give Gonzaga credit, they changed how they played a little bit and got physical and really tried to go at us inside.”

Few on Gray’s play in last five minutes: “We settled him down a little bit and at end he made big play after big play. That got us a cushion to hold on.”