TV take: Saint Mary’s controls the pace in ‘physical’ WCC title game win over Gonzaga
Once more for … what exactly? Pride? A banner? Seeding?
All of those things and more, right, as Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s faced off in the West Coast Conference championship for the 14th time in what Sean Farnham contends, correctly, is the best rivalry on the West Coast.
It certainly was Tuesday night as the 17th-ranked Zags started slowly, had a foul-plagued Graham Ike on the court for only half the game, trailed for all but 22 seconds and fell 69-60 to the top-seed Gaels.
The next step for both? Selection Sunday. But for the Bulldogs, it turned out to be Disappointment Tuesday.
What they saw …
• Prior to the tip on ESPN, Farnham and his play-by-play partner Dave Flemming highlighted one Gonzaga stat from the semifinal win over the University of San Francisco. The Zags’ starting guards, Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman, combined for 36 points, 18 assists and no turnovers. Which led right into, you guessed it, a Nembhard turnover 28 seconds into the game.
Announcer’s curse? Sure. If you believe in such things. Maybe you will, after Hickman turned it over as well 2 minutes later, the Bulldogs had four by the first media break – one more then they had the entire semifinal – and led 7-4.
• Ever wonder how one whistle can change a game? Look no further than the blocking foul Michael Reed called – correctly – on GU post Ike at the 14:29 mark of the first half. At that point, 21st-ranked Saint Mary’s led 9-6. In came Braden Huff.
Farnham immediately said it was Mitchell Saxen time. It was. The 6-foot-10 center scored six points in the next 2 minutes. The Gaels (26-7) opened a nine-point lead. The Gonzaga defense figured it out – thanks in large part to Ben Gregg’s quick hands – but without Ike, who has been an offensive force the past few weeks, the Bulldogs (25-7) burned lots of energy swimming uphill the rest of the half, energy they didn’t have late in the game.
What we saw …
• Not sure we’ve heard Farnham say this statement as much as he said while watching replays in the first half, aimed at both teams: “That’s a foul. Wasn’t called.”
Though Flemming seemed OK with the let-them-play mentality of the officiating trio of Reed, Greg Nixon and Randy Richardson, Farnham didn’t seem as enamored. The word that seemed perfect after his favored statement: “Whatever.”
Flemming’s thoughts? “A tough, physical and fun first half.”
• Farnham, as he will, nailed the difference at that point – and much of the night. He pointed out how the Gaels controlled the pace. It wasn’t glacially slow, but it wasn’t at the Zags’ usual speed or flow. Nothing changed early in the second half. Saint Mary’s quickly, but methodically, built an 11-point lead before Mark Few asked for timeout less than 4 minutes in.
“It can be frustrating when you play free and you want to play fast,” Farnham said as the Zags picked up an early second-half foul, “and all of a sudden the air is seemingly taken out of the ball. And you are on defense every single time down the floor for a good 25 seconds.”
• The one Gaels player that seems to be the bellwether against Gonzaga? Aidan Mahaney. It seems as the sophomore guards goes, so goes his team. He had it going in this one.
The Gaels’ leading scorer, for the season, was the leading scorer in this one as well. He finished with 23, hitting 9 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.
“This is about as good as I’ve seen him play all year,” said Flemming, who sees a lot of Saint Mary’s games.
Anton Watson led the Zags with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Nembhard handed out another 11 assists, though he had four turnovers.
• Bad blood? Sure. There always have been thus between these programs. It boiled over a bit when Gonzaga began a second-half comeback. With the score 43-38, there was a near tie-up in front of the Gaels’ bench. A timeout was called, but Nembhard and Alex Ducas wrestled over the ball and both ended up being given technical fouls after a review.
“It was chippy up in Spokane,” Farnham said. “It is chippy here in Las Vegas.”
• Gonzaga took its only lead with 7 minutes, 40 seconds left as two Watson free throws made it 52-51.
The next three GU possessions were, in order, a missed Hickman 3-pointer, another by Nembhard and then an inside miss by Watson.
A 7-0 run over 2:46 and the Zags were pushing the rock uphill once more.
They never got it to the top of the hill.