No. 9 Gonzaga beats Washington State, 81-66

Gonzaga’s highly-acclaimed front line was just as good as advertised, powering past the Cougars for a 81-66 victory at Spokane Arena.

My unedited game story (that will run in first editions of tomorrow’s paper) is after the jump.

…

Przemek Karnowski was an unstoppable force and an immovable object inside for Gonzaga in the first half against Washington State and his relentless play inside proved enough to power the Bulldogs past a Cougar team that was game for an upset.

When WSU adjusted in the second half, Byron Wesley and Kyle Wiltjer took over.

The ninth-ranked Bulldogs won, 81-66, because their post from Poland was able to bully the much-smaller Cougars and eliminated any advantage the Cougars could manufacture through spirited first-half defense.

At 7-foot-1, 285-pounds Karnowski outweighs each WSU defender by at least 45 pounds and he often had as much as half-foot height advantage against the cycle of players the Cougars sent against him.

With 22 points and 8 rebounds the junior matched his career-high in scoring, which he set in his first collegiate basketball game, scoring 22 points against Southern Utah.

He scored 18 of those points in the first half, allowing Gonzaga (8-1) to build a 39-29 lead despite minimal contributions from starting guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr., neither of whom scored a point in the first 20 minutes.

Pangos, who is on the watch list for the Wooden Award, had an uncharacteristically poor game, scoring no points and finishing with four fouls.

GU scored a quick five points to open the second half leading to a timeout by WSU (4-5) coach Ernie Kent after just 1:01. But by then the Bulldogs had enough cushion to withstand the occasional Cougar run.

In the second half the Cougars tried to double-team Karnowski in the post with a guard but his deft passing allowed GU’s wings to pick up his scoring slack on cuts to the basket.

Byron Wesley, in particular was hard to guard when he slashed toward the rim. The USC transfer made 10 of 14 shots to finish with 20 points. With WSU’s primary post defender on Karnowski, Wiltjer was able to find easy work near the basket and stepped outside to knock down a pair of 3-pointers and scored 21 points .

Neither team pushed the pace of play much and the Cougars often began their offense with 20 or fewer seconds left on the shot clock. Both teams were efficient in the half-court game, with WSU shooting 52.1 percent and the Bulldogs hitting 53.8 percent of their shots.

Something about playing the Zags appears to bring out the best in sophomore WSU guard Ike Iroegbu, who set his career-high with 20 points as a freshman playing in Spokane.

Iroegbu was WSU’s best offensive option in the first half as he was able to consistently get by GU’s guards to score 10 of his 14 points and Josh Hawkinson was able to consistently chip in offensively .

Hawkinson, a sophomore forward, has been a badly-needed inside presence for the Cougars. He had his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds, making two of three 3-point attempts.

DaVonte Lacy, WSU’s primary scorer for two seasons, had 14 .

With about 10 minutes left WSU cut GU’s lead to 60-50 with a 7-0 run that was punctuated with a Brett Boese 3-pointer. On the ensuing possession GU post Kyle Wiltjer scored on Lacy in the post, Karnowski blocked Hawkinson’s shot on the other and the Bulldogs held off the Cougars the rest of the way.