LAS VEGAS - Maybe it took two defeats this season for Saint Mary’s to generate a little bit of nasty from the Gonzaga basketball team in the title game of the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship on Tuesday night.
“They’ve brought the best out in us over the years. That was the case tonight,” Zags coach Mark Few said after his team turned the tables with a 58-51 victory at Orleans Arena. “They made us dig deeper and I think we played our most physical game all year. We made a jump by being nastier and dictating some things with our defense.”
Gonzaga (25-8) played in its 28th consecutive WCC title game and claimed its 22nd all-time tournament crown, including 20 under Few. In the 15th meeting since 2004 between these two teams in this particular game, second-seeded Gonzaga avenged those two defeats and the one it absorbed in the WCC title game a year ago.
The regular-season champion and 19th-ranked Gaels (28-5) had won four of the previous five matchups, a unique stretch of success during the modern era of the rivalry.
Gonzaga senior forward Graham Ike, who won the Most Outstanding Player award, cared only about getting the victory. “A special feeling,” Ike called it. “I'm really glad we could get this done. We knew we’d have to bring our best physicality of the year. We fought hard on the boards, we played great defense, everybody just stayed together. Nobody blew up.”
Nobody except the Saint Mary’s offense, which missed all 16 of its 3-point attempts and turned the ball over 18 times — nearly twice its season average of 9.5. The Zags cashed in those giveaways for 20 points in a seven-point victory.
“The game probably got down to that statistic,” said Gaels coach Randy Bennett, whose team won the WCC regular-season by three games with a 17-1 record. “If you hold Gonzaga to 58 you think you’d win, but we didn’t. They’re a good team. You can’t play like that and expect to win.”
That’s what Saint Mary’s did at Spokane on Feb. 1, winning 62-58. A month later, the Zags were ready to create some momentum headed into the NCAA Tournament, where they have landed every season dating back to the last century, the year before Few was promoted to head coach.
“They’re a great team,” said Zags point guard Ryan Nembhard, the NCAA leader in assists. “They played us tough all year, they have for two years. It was just understanding what’s on the line. We really wanted to punch our (NCAA) ticket tonight.”
Saint Mary’s, which lost for just the second time since before Christmas, is by all measures a lock to earn an at-large bid, which would put them in the NCAAs for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.
Gonzaga experienced, by their lofty standards, a season filled with near misses. The Zags lost three times in overtime and three other games were settled by four points or fewer. But they now have a resume with 25 wins for the 18th season in a row.
“We’ve been confident the whole year,” said Khalif Battle, who had 14 points and five of the Zags’ 12 steals to join Ike on the all-tournament team. “We’ve had some slip away, but you’ve got to go through some hardships in order to win. We’ve been practicing for this moment. I think we were prepared more than ever going into this tournament.”
Few switched up his lineup, giving forward Braden Huff just his second start of the season. The 6-foot-10 redshirt sophomore scored 18 points and got Gaels forward Paulius Murauskas into foul trouble.
“We’ve been taking about this for a while,” Ike said. “I just know he’s built for it. He stepped up to the plate tonight.”
Ike, who had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the semifinal victory over San Francisco, added 11 and seven boards against the Gaels. Nembhard had 10 points, six assists and three steals.
The Zags played so well defensively that it didn’t matter they made just 1 of 15 attempts from 3-point range. Yes, the two elite squads combined to go 1 for 31 from deep.
Gonzaga never trailed and got off to a fast start, leading 18-5 after 6 minutes. Huff was a big part of that with seven quick points.
Saint Mary’s battled back, using a 10-2 to close to the half trailing just 33-31. The Gaels got within one point early in the second half but could not get over the hump. Often, just when it seemed like they were ready to take the lead, they were sabotaged by a turnover.
Senior center Mitchell Saxen, whose specialties are rebounding and defense, led the Gaels with a season-high 20 points. Two-time WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis had 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds and fellow senior Luke Barrett contributed nine points and nine rebounds.
Marciulioinis acknowledged the Zags’ rugged approach, but said the responsibility for how things unfolded belonged to the Gaels.
“I don’t know, offensively in general we just didn’t play to the level we should,” he said. “They were physical but that’s not really an excuse. We’ve played against other teams that are really aggressive and we managed to take care of the ball.”
UP NEXT: Few said he will be curious to see what the NCAA selection committee thinks about his team when the bracket is released on Selection Sunday. The Zags have a lofty No. 8 ranking according to the NCAA’s NET computer, but there have been some setbacks.
“We’ve had an inordinate amount of one-possession games. I think that’s why we’re such an interesting seed going into this NCAA Tournament. I think we’re 350th in luck on KenPom,” he said, referring to another site that produces statistical metrics. “We’ve had more banked 3s on us than I can ever remember in my entire career.”
There were none of those against Saint Mary’s and Few is pleased to see progress, whatever prompted it. “Whether it’s law of averages coming through or resiliency and working on it and really concentrating because it has cost us. Or maybe it’s just some desperation by seniors who don’t want this thing to end. It’s probably a combination of those things."
TURNOVERS THE STORY: The Gaels outrebounded the Zags by a 43-28 margin and held them nearly 30 points below their season average. That wasn’t enough because of uncharacteristic play at the other end of the floor.
“We were atrocious offensively,” Bennett said. “The biggest thing is you can’t have 18 turnovers against them. A lot of those turned into layups at the other end.”
Those 18 giveaways were four more than the Gaels had recorded all season.
Bennett didn’t quite know what to make of going all night without a 3-point basket. “I don’t know if it's ever happened,” he said. “There’s probably one. I can’t remember.”
Marciulionis said the Gaels will regroup before the NCAA Tournament. "All of our goals for the season are still out there,” he said. “Even though we won this tournament (last year), we lost the first (NCAA) game in March and it didn’t sit well with us. It didn’t feel like we finished the season well.”
“We kind of got to flush this one fast, get it out of our system,” Saxen added. “We need to face every day in practice with a focus that these are our biggest games of the year.
“I feel like every single night our group’s going to show up and we’re going to play frickin’ hard. That’ll keep you in a lot of games but we’ve got to play better.”