Gonzaga says goodbye to WCC with trophy in hand and a bright future ahead | Dave Boling
LAS VEGAS – It might be timely to point this out: Saint Aloysius Gonzaga is touted, among other things, as the patron for youth.
If Aloysius had been watching the first half of the West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament title game on Tuesday night, he would have seen Gonzaga trailing to Santa Clara.
It wasn’t that the top-seeded Zags were playing poorly or without intent or effort, but the Broncos just seemed to be in the right place to get a loose ball, and almost every offensive rebound.
By halftime of the West Coast Conference Tournament title game, Santa Clara was leading 33-29.
The statistics had to be badly miscalculated.
Santa Clara was leading the stat for second-chance points by 13-0. They had 11 offensive rebounds. And the Zags’ best player, Graham Ike, the conference’s player of the year, had taken only two shots.
The only one for the first 19 minutes was a dunk. And while it was very impressive, it was worth only two points.
A loss for the Zags might have cost them some seeding real estate, and maybe gotten them shipped further from home. But they surely would have been invited to their 27th straight NCAA Tournament.
The atmosphere was perfect for GU, as probably 90% of the 6,517 in Orleans Arena were loudly in favor of the Zags.
If Aloysius had been around the locker room at halftime, he might have stressed to coach Mark Few that it was time to get his freshmen more involved.
Starting point guard Mario Saint-Supery, a freshman from Spain, had six points in the first half, and Davis Fogle, the athletic rookie wing from Anacortes, had only three points.
Every Zag picked it up in the second half, but Santa Clara was hanging tough. Until the GU freshmen began playing with the effectiveness of gifted veterans.
Saint-Supery ended up with 21 points (15 after halftime), five rebounds and four assists. It was his 3 of 4 shooting from outside the arc that really quelled the Broncos’ repeated attempts to fight back.
Fogle, who started the season getting only clean-up minutes, has grown into a reliable contributor. No, more than that, he’s a star in the making. He finished with 13 points and team highs in rebounds (eight) and assists (six).
Ike, the super-senior, was benefiting from the kids’ awakenings, with both Saint-Supery and Fogle finding him in scoring position. He finished making all seven of his field-goal attempts for 15 points.
With his 24 points in the semifinal win over Oregon State, Ike’s 15 on Tuesday earned him the Most Outstanding Player award for the tournament.
As Few said after the game at the trophy ceremony, this year’s team has faced adversity every step. They didn’t know until the first game whether transfer Tyon Grant-Foster was going to be eligible.
He’d been through a near fatal heart condition, he’d gone through transfers and ultimately needed a judge to grant him eligibility.
Tuesday was the payoff. With several athletic aerial plays, he scored 20 points, drew seven fouls, and grabbed seven rebounds.
This being the final WCC Tournament for the Zags, it’s time to point out they had advanced to 29 straight title games, and will now be heading to their 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Looking at the players returning – like Saint-Supery and Fogle – the other teams in the WCC are likely glad GU is going to be gone. Let the Pac-12 worry about those guys from now on.
On the winners’ stage for the trophy presentation afterward, an announcer commented on the play of the freshmen Zags.
Ike started grinning at Fogle, the young teammate standing beside him. Ike knew how important those young players were to the team pulling this one.
Fogle grinned back. Ike knocked Fogle’s championship ballcap halfway off his head, and ruffled his hair. It was the universal sign of an elder saying, “Hey, kid, you done good, we’re proud of you.”