Rollins Has A Huge Half As Zags Roll

Guard Lorenzo Rollins continued his run of second-half heroics Thursday night, scoring 20 of his 29 points after intermission as Gonzaga shot down University of San Francisco 73-59 in a key West Coast Conference men’s basketball game.

The victory lifted Gonzaga (17-6, 8-3) back into a first-place tie with idle Santa Clara and sent sent USF (13-10, 6-5) into a three-way tie for third.

San Francisco led Gonzaga, which sank only 7 of 21 field-goal tries, 28-27 at halftime.

Rollins alone made seven baskets in the second half.

A powerful force during the conference schedule, Rollins turned in his third big second-half showing of the month. He scored all 21 of his points in the final 20 minutes at Pepperdine and 15 in the second half when the Waves came to Spokane.

Thursday, the transfer shooting guard from Tacoma made 10 of 19 shots, including 7 of 13 beyond the 3-point arc. He fell one 3-pointer short of the school record.

Coach Dan Fitzgerald was pumped up by the victory.

“This was a fine win on the road,” he said. “We made a lot of alert plays and Rollins just put on a show.”

After Rollins made two treys just past the midway point of the second half, Gonzaga edged into the lead. The Bulldogs were nursing a 52-49 advantage at the 6:08 mark when Rollins, after a steal and feed from Scott Snider, put in a driving layup.

That launched a 13-4 run that put away the Dons. Jon Kinloch drilled a 3-point shot at 4:52. After Rollins hit a pair of 3-pointers, it was 63-53.

“Snider kept about three balls in play, including the one that led to the big 3 by Kinloch,” Fitzgerald said. “That was one of those baskets when you saw it, you said ‘Boom! That’s the game.”

, DataTimes