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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

No Joshin’, Heytvelt looking good

GU big man hits 9 of 10 shots in win; Vols next

GU’s Josh Heytvelt (22 points) defends against Landon Milbourne. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Different game, different venue, same questions. It’s becoming a postgame ritual that Josh Heytvelt doesn’t mind at all.

What percentage were you at last year? Are you all the way back to form this season?

Heytvelt hears these questions in nearly every postgame interview session, but there have been even more from the national media on hand to cover the Old Spice Classic basketball tournament.

Heytvelt let his play do the talking Friday, making 9 of 10 shots, drilling a pair of 3-pointers and elevating to stuff a lob pass as Gonzaga flattened Maryland 81-59 in the semifinals at The Milk House. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs (4-0) will meet No. 12 Tennessee (5-0), which handled No. 21 Georgetown 90-78, at 4:30 Pacific on Sunday.

To recap, as Heytvelt does patiently with each questioner, he wasn’t healthy a year ago when his foot didn’t heal properly after surgery. He is pain-free this season, but he’s not quite as bouncy as his younger days, in part because he’s carrying 35-40 more pounds.

“I’ve put on a few pounds,” said Heytvelt, after scoring 22 points (his first time in the 20s since his sophomore season) and grabbing nine rebounds. “I’m more mature, smarter and trying to do more for the team.”

Head coach Mark Few said many of the same things, but couldn’t resist needling his senior center, who is sporting a Mohawk along with several teammates.

“He’s got a worse haircut than he had two years ago,” Few cracked. “That’s one thing that’s not as good.”

Heytvelt and the Zags played their best basketball of the young season en route to a surprisingly easy win over the Terrapins (4-1), who dominated No. 5 Michigan State on Thursday.

Gonzaga made sure Heytvelt got more touches inside. Bulldogs guards and wings repeatedly beat defenders off the dribble and finished inside, something that didn’t always happen in Thursday’s victory over Oklahoma State. Austin Daye was more aggressive on his drives, and was rewarded with 17 points.

“We wanted to spread them out and see if we could attack off the bounce,” Few said. “They were kind of concerned about our 3-point shooting so they were hugging our guys coming off ball screens and our guys did a pretty good job of reading that.”

Daye said the Zags “weren’t really on the attack (against Oklahoma State). We took a lot of 3s. I think I took five and that’s probably the most I should ever take. I just felt like I should attack more and see what I could do inside, and Josh did a great job in there.”

The Bulldogs never trailed and used a late 10-2 run to take a 38-29 advantage at the break. The Terps stung the Bulldogs with eight offensive rebounds, but Gonzaga corrected that deficiency in the second half. GU won the boards 24-12 in the second half and ended up with a 17-10 edge on second-chance points.

The biggest of those came after Maryland mounted a brief threat. Gonzaga’s lead was 46-38, but Maryland seemed to grab the momentum when Heytvelt batted a rebound from under GU’s basket to midcourt where Greivis Vasquez grabbed the ball and completed a three-point play.

Gonzaga’s Rob Sacre responded with an offensive rebound and was fouled. He made both foul shots and then added a putback dunk on the Bulldogs’ next possession. Daye rejected Sean Mosely’s shot, leading to a run-out layin by Steven Gray. Then Gray followed up a Daye miss and was fouled in the process. His three-point play gave Gonzaga a 55-40 lead.

“The key to winning this game was rebounding, especially in the second half,” said Sacre, who has logged 17 minutes in two games in his return from foot surgery. “We did what we needed to do.”

That includes making free throws. One night after going 13 of 26 at the charity stripe, Gonzaga made 18 of 25 overall and 17 of their last 21.

Maryland, which hit nine 3s and shot 49 percent against Michigan State, was 1 of 13 on 3-pointers and made 37.3 percent from the floor. Vasquez, who was heavily recruited by Gonzaga, scored 16 points, but his teammates combined to make just 19 of 55 shots.

“He’s the heart and soul of their team,” Gray said. “When you have a player with that type of mentality and heart, they take it upon themselves. We just wanted to entice him to try to make a lot of plays and then make it as tough as we could on him.”

Gonzaga and Tennessee met last year in the Battle in Seattle with the Volunteers claiming an 82-72 victory. The teams will also play Jan. 7 in Knoxville.