Bulldogs bulldoze another
Gonzaga University closed out its exhibition season Saturday night with another rout of a dramatically undermanned opponent.
But this one didn’t sit quite as well with Bulldogs coach Mark Few, who was critical of his team’s first-half effort in a 97-52 romp past NAIA Division II Warner Pacific.
“I thought we came out really poorly tonight, with no real fire, no real energy,” he said. “I don’t know if we thought we were cool or what, but that’s one thing we can’t play like this year. We’ve got to bring it every night – really high energy, high effort and very solid execution.
“We just don’t have the overall talent we’ve had in the past.”
Still, the Bulldogs managed to overwhelm the Knights and treat a sellout McCarthey Athletic Center crowd of 6,000 to the lopsided victory it came to see.
Senior front-liner Sean Mallon and sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt each scored 20 points, junior guard Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes added 14 and junior wing David Pendergraft chipped in 10 as the Zags closed out their two-game exhibition season.
But it wasn’t until the second half, when they cranked up the defense pressure and got the fast break going, that the Bulldogs looked as dominant as they should have been.
“Our first half was slow again,” admitted Heytvelt, who made six of his eight field-goal attempts and also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. “But the coaches kind of went over at halftime what we needed to pick up and work on, and in the second half we did what we needed to do.”
GU scored 54 second-half points, many on fast breaks, and turned the lights out on the Knights with a run of 20 unanswered points.
“We’re really quick,” Heytvelt added, “and we’re learning that one of our biggest strengths is the fast break – getting out and running on people. And once we get that down pat, we’ll be a really dangerous team.”
The break accounted for 20 of the Zags’ points against Warner Pacific and helped make up for a 1-for-7 shooting night by senior guard Derek Raivio, whose only basket came with 8 minutes gone in the second half.
Once again, Few played a lot of different combinations in an effort to find points – and a much-needed leader. But the points were all he found.
“We’re always looking for more leadership out of this crew,” he said. “And thus far along, I don’t think we’ve established who our best leaders are. Early on, we looked at the senior for that, but I don’t think they’ve established themselves as really talking control of this team, so we’re still looking.”
The biggest round of applause during the game came when 7-foot-4 freshman Will Foster made a late appearance and promptly filled a lane on a fast break, took a pass while running at full speed and finished with a smooth dunk in traffic.
When asked about the lanky rookie’s immediate future, Few said, “He’s got a chance, if he keeps developing and falls in love with the game. None of those kids inside are really doing a whole heck of a lot, so we might have to play him.”
The start of Saturday’s game was delayed for almost 30 minutes because of travel problems encountered by Warner Pacific, which played at Sacramento State Friday. The Knights didn’t arrive in Spokane until 6:15 after having problems with flights.
Gonzaga opens its regular season at home against Eastern Washington on Friday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m., and Few admits his team needs to make some big strides before then.
“I think (this game) shows we’ve got a long way to go,” he said, “and, unfortunately, we’ve only got five days until we open against a team that views itself as an NCAA Tournament team and has a lot more points and rebounds coming back than we have coming back.”
Gonzaga 97, War.Pacific 52
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| Warner Pacific | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Martin | 24 | 1-5 | 1-3 | 2-4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Reedal | 25 | 4-11 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| Gobba | 19 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Jackson | 32 | 5-17 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| O’Gallagher | 29 | 4-11 | 7-8 | 2-4 | 2 | 3 | 15 |
| Skyward | 12 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Sundby | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilkerson | 6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Walton | 8 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Cook | 10 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Oury | 14 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Stewart | 18 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Totals | 200 | 18-67 | 10-13 | 14-28 | 8 | 28 | 52 |
Percentages: FG .269, FT .600. 3-Point Goals: 6-33, .222 (Reedal 3-9, Jackson 2-8, Oury 1-4, Gobba 0-1, Cook 0-2, Walton 0-2, Skyward 0-2, O’Gallagher 0-2, Stewart 0-3). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 20 (Martin 5). Steals: 7 (Gobba 2). Technical Fouls: None.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| Gonzaga | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Pendergraft | 20 | 3-3 | 4-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Heytvelt | 24 | 6-8 | 7-12 | 3-10 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Pargo | 26 | 2-8 | 3-6 | 1-2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Raivio | 22 | 1-7 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Bouldin | 25 | 3-7 | 2-2 | 0-8 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| Altidor-Cespedes | 27 | 6-7 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Sorenson | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mast | 5 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kuso | 17 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 3-8 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Mallon | 23 | 7-9 | 6-6 | 1-6 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| Foster | 6 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Totals | 200 | 4-15 | 25-35 | 12-50 | 22 | 17 | 97 |
Percentages: FG .655, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 4-15, .333 (Altidor-Cespedes 2-2, Heytvelt 1-1, Bouldin 1-4, Mallon 0-1, Sorenson 0-1, Pargo 0-2, Raivio 0-4). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 2 (Heytvelt, Kuso). Turnovers: 18 (Bouldin 4, Altidor-Cespedes 4, Kuso 4). Steals: 12 (Mast 2, Kuso 2, Mallon 2, Raivio 2). Technical Fouls: None.
Halftime–Gonzaga 43, Warner Pacific 29. A–6,000.