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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Southeastern Louisiana tests will of Gonzaga

Gonzaga retired to the locker room, outplayed by Southeastern Louisiana and trailing by one point. The players knew they were in for an animated halftime chat with the coaching staff.

Maybe the only ones more irritated than the coaches were the players themselves.

“We knew we were going to hear from the coaches,” junior forward Kyle Wiltjer said, “but as a team we never want to come out like that, especially in our own building.”

The ninth-ranked Bulldogs didn’t make the same mistake twice, opening the second half with a 30-4 run that generated a fairly comfortable 76-57 victory over the pesky Lions in front of 6,000 Tuesday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Gonzaga (7-0) was coming off an NIT Season Tip-Off championship in New York and awaiting a Saturday showdown against No. 3 Arizona. The Wildcats, by the way, led Gardner-Webb 42-41 early in the second half before rolling to a 91-65 victory.

“No, that’s not a good excuse at all,” said senior wing Byron Wesley, when asked if GU overlooked the Lions. “They’re a Division I team. We knew they had talented players.”

Southeastern Louisiana, a member of the Southland Conference, controlled the tempo for the first 20 minutes. The Lions (2-6) passed the ball around the perimeter until the shot clock reached 5 seconds and then turned to guards Zay Jackson and Joshua Filmore to create for themselves or teammates.

The two combined for 21 first-half points, including three 3-pointers. They hit easy shots, tough shots and generally frustrated the Zags. Athletic 6-9 forward DeVonte Upson yanked an offensive rebound away from Wiltjer and Przemek Karnowski for a dunk that gave the Lions a 7-5 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish until the closing minutes of the half.

Gonzaga trailed by eight at one point, its largest deficit of the season. The Lions, despite being much smaller than GU’s frontcourt, had a 16-14 edge in points in the paint and led 33-32 at half.

“They held the ball, they milked the clock down and obviously kept it lower possessions,” coach Mark Few said. “They did a nice job hitting shots at the end of those possessions.”

Gary Bell Jr. hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half and the Zags never trailed. The margin grew to 11 after Karnowski’s easy post-up basket.

Gonzaga scored 21 unanswered points to take a 62-37 lead with 7:30 remaining. The Lions went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes before Daniel Grieves connected on a pair of free throws.

“We played considerably better in the second half,” Few said. “We were in the gaps, which was our intention from the get-go. We helped each other more, we rotated more assertively and we were just unbelievably efficient on the offensive end.”

The Zags made 17 of 30 second-half shots, many from point-blank range. The Lions heated up in the closing minutes to finish at 49 percent, the highest allowed by Gonzaga this season.

“It was ugly,” said Bell, who finished with nine points, all on 3-pointers. “It wasn’t our best game but we finished it off strong.”

Wiltjer made 8 of 10 shots and scored a team-high 20 points. Domantas Sabonis made all six of his field-goal attempts for the second straight game – he’s shooting 79.5 percent for the season – and finished with 14 points. Kevin Pangos, who played the first 29 minutes before getting a rest, added 12 points and three assists.

Filmore led the Lions with 14 points. Jackson missed all five of his second-half shots and had five of his six turnovers. Upson contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.

More on the Zags

Check out Jim Meehan’s blogpost the morning after every Gonzaga game for more insights and reaction from the game at spokesman.com/sportslink.