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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Grip on Sports: College basketball’s conference title road is often full of potholes and wrong turns, as the Zags showed again Thursday night

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As Fridays go, this one is a beauty. I mean, c’mon. How often is there three local college hoops wins to write about, though one loss overshadows them all? And the weekend ahead? The three-day holiday is packed. NFL. College football. College hoops. Settle in folks, the ride is wild.

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• Not sure how many times in the past dozen years I’ve written a certain sentence about college basketball. It goes something like this: Winning on the road in conference play is hard.

It’s not as if that’s a new thought. Or a secret. But it’s true. And it’s always been true for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, despite the West Coast Conference’s often dismal lineup. Whenever the king is in town, there is a French-Revolution-like atmosphere. As was the case Thursday night in Corvallis.

Gill Coliseum, which has been around since Harry Truman was president, was filled to the – pardon the pun – gills. And the old place was rocking from before the opening tip. The last time I can remember it like that, Charlie Sitton was taking down UCLA (and the rest of the Pac-10) as Ralph Miller snuck a few puffs from a Sherman cigarette in the hall at halftime. That was a long time ago.

Wayne Tinkle doesn’t smoke, but his team sure smoked the 16th-ranked Zags in overtime, using two 3-pointers from Michael Rataj and scoring on its final three possessions to cement a 97-89 upset win.

But just getting to OT took a few favorable bounces, as a couple of key Beaver shots seemed almost impossible. That’s the way such upsets are built, right? And why the road life is ulcer-inducing, even among college hoops’ glitterati.

• The GU men have lost five games this season, all of them close enough if one player had stepped up and dominated the final minute or so, they might be undefeated.

But no one has. There was an example of how that works on campus last night, and it came courtesy of the most-productive player to ever wear a Gonzaga jersey. For the women, at least.

The Zags were battling their recent nemesis, the Portland Pilots, and were doing everything possible to squander an 11-point lead built in the first three quarters. Actually, they did squander it all as, with 2 minutes remaining, Portland led 60-59. And that was the last time any Bulldog besides Yvonne Ejim scored. Still, the Pilots led 63-61 with 59 seconds remaining following Emma Shearer’s three-point play.

Ejim answered with an and-one herself. The Pilots scored again to lead 65-64 with 21 seconds left. Everyone in McCarthy knew Ejim would have the Zags’ final shot. And most of the 5,414 knew she would make it. That it would come off an offensive rebound with 9.4 seconds left may not have been ideal – for GU – but her putback made it 66-65.

The Pilots had two shots at a win, missed them both and Ejim was carried to the locker room. Well, that last part is not true, but maybe it should have been. The grad senior scored a career-high 35 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and was, once again, the hero as the Bulldogs won for the fifth consecutive time.

• Good thing for CBS Sports’ ratings Gonzaga’s loss in Corvallis was scheduled for Thursday. Even if it finished well after midnight for those watching in the other Washington. Why a good thing? I am not sure many people without a dog in the hunt will be watching Saturday’s hoops games.

Not just the Zag men, who host Santa Clara at 6 p.m. (KHQ). Or the Cougs, who will try to follow up Thursday’s 65-61 win at 4-15 San Diego – do I need to remind you life on the conference road is a pain? – with another against Portland (3 p.m., ESPN+). Or even when local teams match up, as is the case in Moscow with EWU visiting for a doubleheader (the men at 4, also ESPN+ only).

After all, the NFL playoffs are on. And it’s un-American not to watch. Saturday is all about the country’s Heartland, with two-time defending champion Kansas City hosting Houston (1:30, ABC) and upstart Washington trying to take down NFC favorite Detroit (5, Fox) in the Motor City.

Sunday features two games originating in the Eastern Time Zone, Philadelphia hosting the Rams (noon, NBC) and Baltimore and Buffalo meeting hard by Lake Erie (3:30, CBS), with all that entails.

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WSU: The Washington State women jumped all over host San Francisco early, building a 17-point first-quarter lead, then coasted to 74-58 win. The Cougars remain tied atop the WCC standings with Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga. … The men struggled offensively in California but found a way to struggle past the struggling Toreros. Greg Woods has the coverage. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, I asked yesterday what is the best way to improve the CFP selection process? Jon Wilner talked with a couple basketball analytical gurus for their thoughts. That story is in the S-R this morning. … Among the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, the Department of Education made a Title IX determination yesterday concerning athlete payment demanded by the House settlement. It threatens to throw a wrench into the works. … The playoffs, which end Monday night in Atlanta, were just fine. There is just a little fine-tuning needed. … John Canzano has his pick for the Ohio State/Notre Dame showdown. … Oregon has made a bunch of roster moves since its season ended. … So has Colorado, though one has to wonder what happens if Deion Sanders leaves. … Utah has questions to answer about its defense. … USC answered one yesterday, giving coordinator D’Anton Lynn a raise after Penn State came calling. … Arizona has hired another new assistant. … In basketball news, this is a tough stretch for Danny Sprinkle and Washington. … An Oregon guard is iffy for the Ducks next game. … San Diego State’s coach Brian Dutcher has a bobblehead now. … The NCAA payment changes for the women are a bit overdue.

Gonzaga: The last finish means Jim Meehan’s game story did not make the S-R’s print-edition deadline. … Jim did work with the folks in the office to put together this recap with highlights. … Theo Lawson’s story on Graham Ike’s big night also missed the print deadline. Ike’s night ended with the post fouling out in overtime. His 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in regulation tied the game, though replays showed he traveled before taking the shot. … Theo also has his buzzer-beater notebook. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo gallery from the loss in Corvallis, which dropped the Zags’ Quad 1 record to 2-5 as the chances for more wins in that exclusive category wind down. … We can also pass along coverage from Corvallis, including Nick Daschel’s stories in the Oregonian. And a national story. … We linked Greg Lee’s story on the women’s win above. And we do it again here. … Just thought I would throw this note out there. In the past month, the men have lost two games. In both, Kipp Kissinger and Jeffrey Anderson (known for his unusual high-knees sprint early in every game), have traveled across the Rocky Mountains to work the contest. In the losses, the Zags have shot a total of 33 free throws. Their opponents? They have made 43 out of 55 attempts. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the Oregon State women rallied to pick up another overtime road win.

Idaho: We can pass along not only Peter Harriman’s preview of Saturday’s doubleheader in Moscow, which features Jack Payne, the Colorado State transfer who returned to his home state this year, but also another on the Idaho legacy of Don Monson, the legendary coach whose son Dan brings his Eagles to Moscow for the first time.

EWU: Dan Thompson has a notebook of Eagle football news today, from the naming of the new offensive coordinator, to a couple of game additions down and the road, to a note we passed along yesterday about Michael Wortham’s transfer destination. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana women’s coach Brian Holsinger, who was a long-time assistant in Pullman, took a leave of absence. The Griz women defeated visiting Weber State 74-70. … Montana State, 5-0 in conference, routed Idaho State 94-52. … The Griz men bounced back and topped host Weber State 63-59. … Idaho State traveled to Bozeman and handed the Bobcats another loss, 70-67.

Preps: Four years ago, as Ridgeline High went through the rigors of the school’s first girls’ basketball season, the foundation was there for everyone to see – if you looked hard enough. Coaching against the Falcons, I did, not just on film but in person. And after a win at the school, talked with the then-coaching staff about it, mentioning freshman Emma Myers by name. The program is in Freddie Rehkow’s hands now and Myers is a senior. As Dave Nichols tells us, the Falcons are rolling and hope to earn one of two berths at State from the district.

Kraken: Puck luck can be good or bad. Last night it was bad for Seattle in a loss against Winnipeg.

Seahawks: It’s position-preview time. I can pass along the receivers in the S-R and two stories in the Times, tight end and offensive line. As well as another on the open offensive coordinator spot. … I also linked this Pete Carroll story before. It is on the S-R site today. … Who you got this weekend in the playoffs? … Hey, Bobby Wagner is playing a big role again.

Mariners: Any other day I probably would have spent most of the column space on Bob Uecker’s death. After all, despite being a .200 hitter for his MLB career, Uecker was once one of the most recognizable former players in the world. Miller Lite commercials. Comedic movies. Johnny Carson appearances. A sitcom? Yep, “Mr. Belvidere.” Uecker, known as Mr. Baseball, was everywhere. He died Thursday at 90. … Ichiro, first unanimous Hall of Fame position player? Discuss. … No, I’m not all in with this. It will take a lot of luck to make the playoffs thanks to ownership’s malfeasance. There is little margin of error.  

Sounders: Club World Cup tickets for Seattle games are on sale.

Storm: Two Seattle guards will square off on opposing teams in the new 3-on-3 offseason league.

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• You have non-NFL-playoff-watching plans for the weekend? The end of the first game tomorrow will be a no-go for me – maybe it will be decided by the time I have to leave the house – as will the start of the second. Sunday is similar. Bad scheduling on my part. I’m free Monday though. Which means the CFP final will probably be a 50-point rout. Until later …