Saint Mary’s Mikey Lewis stings GU again in win over Gonzaga | 3 takeaways

MORAGA, Calif. – Three takeaways at the buzzer from Gonzaga’s 70-59 West Coast Conference loss to Saint Mary’s on Saturday night.

Zag nemesis strikes again

Saint Mary’s guard Mikey Lewis, who had a pair of big games in wins over Gonzaga last season as a freshman, found the range again.

Lewis connected on seven 3-pointers – five in the second half as the Gaels outscored GU 41-23 – and scored a career-high 31 points. The 6-foot-3 sophomore from Oakland connected on 7 of 13 from distance, including a couple with a defender tightly contesting the shot.

Lewis has run hot or cold against GU. Lewis, coming off the bench last season, stung the Zags for 34 points in a pair of regular-season wins over GU last season, hitting 9 of 19 3s along the way.

He didn’t do much in Gonzaga’s win over the Gaels earlier this season in Spokane, finishing with just four points on 1 of 3 shooting behind the arc. He also struggled in a loss to the Zags in last year’s WCC Tournament title game with just five points while missing all seven of his 3-point attempts.

Rotation tightening

Gonzaga has shortened its rotation somewhat over the last couple of weeks and did so again against the Gaels. GU, playing without Braden Huff (knee) and Jalen Warley (quad contusion), basically went with a seven-man rotation.

Braeden Smith and Davis Fogle came off the bench to play 20 minutes in the first half. Ismaila Diagne gave Graham Ike a one-minute break.

Smith, who had a two-game stretch with just nine minutes two weeks ago, saw extended minutes again with Mario Saint-Supery struggling. He had three assists and two points in 19 minutes after playing a combined 35 minutes in the previous two games. Saint-Supery was scoreless in 20 minutes.

Diagne entered for a few minutes after Ike fouled out late in the second half.

Steele Venters had his fourth did not play (DNP) in the last five games.

Warley sidelined

Gonzaga senior Jalen Warley sat out for the second consecutive game.

It has been an issue for the versatile, 6-foot-7 forward since suffering the injury in the opening minutes of GU’s upset loss to Portland on Feb. 4 at the Chiles Center – so much so that he was on the bench for the Senior Night rout over Portland on Wednesday and the showdown against the Gaels.

With a WCC regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament secured with the win over the Pilots, the Zags are giving Warley an extended break so he’s closer to full speed for the postseason, The Zags’ next game will be in the WCC Tournament semifinals Monday, March 9 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Warley, arguably the team’s third or fourth most impactful player, took on a bigger role with forward Huff sidelined for the last 13 games with a knee injury. Prior to the injury, Warley averaged 22.3 minutes, 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a team-leading 1.5 steals. His numbers dropped to 18.8 minutes, 5.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.8 steals in the five games he played after the quad contusion.

Warley had 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists and was strong defensively on Gaels’ leading scoring Paulius Murauskas in GU’s 73-65 win over the Gaels in Spokane.