Thursday's Games:
Portland 75, San Diego 78 OT
Brigham Young 85, San Francisco 84
Pepperdine 70, Seattle 81 (non-conference game)
#24 Gonzaga 73, Santa Clara 62
The Big Game:
Brigham Young at San Francisco did not disappoint. The Cougars are a team playing for an at large berth and this game they played like one. San Francisco is a team they should beat, even on the road, and the Cougars led this one from the get go. The Dons, to their credit, never let the Cougars pull away
thanks in large part to the play of starting forward Angelo Caloiaro who had 23 points and hit all 6 of his free throws (something the rest of the Dons struggled with). Caloiaro probably won't remember this game for those numbers though. He missed a 3 on the Dons frenzied last possession that would have given San Francisco only it's second, but most important lead of the night. The first lead for the Dons came with only 47 seconds left to play on a Rashad Green mid range jump shot to put them up 84-83.
Matt Carlino had a career night for the Cougars, scoring 30 points on 13 of 19 from the field including 4 from long range. Points 29 and 30 came at just the right time. Trailing the Dons for the first time in the game and with only 21 seconds remaining Carlino hit a tough floater from the baseline over two Don defenders to retake the lead for the Cougars. He was four of seven along with Charles Abouo's three of six from deep signaled the Cougars long range game had returned. This was BYU's first win in four attempts at War Memorial Arena, and gives them a sweep of the season series with the Dons.
Noah Hartsock scored 16 for the Cougars on 7-13 from the field and Charles Abouo scored 15 including his aforementioned 50% from deep. No other Cougar was in double figures. Brandon Davies, the Cougars' second leading scorer at 14.1ppg, was held to just six points.
San Francisco had a very balanced offensive attack with five players in double figures. Besides Caloiaro's 23, three other starters and one reserve passed the ten point mark. Perris Blackwell had 18, Cody Doolin 16, Rashad Green 12 and reserve Cole Dickerson pitched in 10 in 23 minutes. The Dons are balanced but not deep as they played only four reserves. Dickerson's 23 minutes compare to only 10 total minutes from the rest of the bench.
San Francisco gets one day to rest before welcoming the Zags to War Memorial. After a high scoring and hectic game like they just played the Dons may wish for more than just one day off. BYU heads south along U.S. 101 (and they may pass the Zags heading the opposite direction) to Santa Clara where they have a meeting with the Broncos on Saturday.
The Other Games:
#24 Gonzaga 73, Santa Clara 62
Robert Sacre is back and just in time. The Zags desperately needed the 7' 260lbs senior big man to show up for the last games of the season and he has. Sacre has played well since the loss at BYU on February 2nd, scoring in double figures in each game since, but he exploded back onto the scene tonight with 20 points to lead the Zags. As a Zag fan the moment that said "He's back!" the best would normally result in a "What was he thinking?!" response. After Raymond Cowles III hit a three that brought the Broncos within six with 16 minutes left in the second half a technical foul was called on Sacre. He threw down an emphatic dunk and hung on the rim in celebration. After the game he had this to say about it "I know I messed up but I'm trying to have fun. When they gave me the technical, I said, 'Not on my watch. We're not losing.'" and added "The reality is we can't overlook all those teams [left to play]. We have to stay focused and stay grinding.". Robert Sacre is the leader and the soul of this Gonzaga team and he knows exactly what needs to be done to finish the season strong heading into the NCAA tournament, and that is (along with scoring) his role.
The Zags' front court was nearly unstoppable tonight as reserve Sam Dower in the first half and ended the game with 18 points on 7-8 from the field and 4-4 from the charity stripe, in only 21 minutes of play. Dower continues to be an exceptionally efficient scorer for the Zags but he wasn't alone tonight. Gonzaga shot 61% from the field.
Coming into the game Gonzaga ranked 4th in the nation in limiting opponents free throw attempts while Santa Clara ranked 11th in sending opponents to the line. Gonzaga had 27 attempts and hit 20 of them while Santa Clara was held to just 11, making 8. Statistics can often mislead and they did tonight as the two squads free throw percentages were very close at 74.1 and 72.7 percent respectively. Free throws will be a key factor when the Zags host BYU on February 23rd. The Cougars escaped in San Francisco by only one point despite the Dons' wretched 8 of 15 from the line.
Woeful Santa Clara managed to hang with the #24 team in the land for most of the game. Evan Roquemore led all scorers with 21 points and had 6 assists on top of that. This season really is a lost cause for Santa Clara, as they are doomed to sit at the bottom of the WCCWCC tournament. Currently the 8 seed is Pepperdine, who went on the road for a non-conference game against the well under .500 Seattle Redhawks and lost by 11. Unfortunately that loss won't bring the Broncos any closer to the Waves in the standings. Santa Clara played better against Gonzaga than Pepperdine did against Seattle despite the Zags being far better than the Broncos, Waves or Redhawks. So while Santa Clara will end up in last, they do have a legitimate shot at winning their tournament game after that anything can happen, as the middle of the pack look to be shuffled significantly before tournament time.
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San Diego holds on at home over Portland in overtime. A back and forth game for the first half, the Pilots fell as far as 17 points behind the Toreros in the second half before mounting an incredible late game run. San Diego's Cameron Miles hit a three with 8:22 remaining giving San Diego their greatest lead of the night. Kevin Bailey of Portland took the game over after that and scored 11 points for the Pilots. The Toreros added only three to their total in that span. Chris Manresa was fouled with six seconds remaining but blew the opportunity to end the game by missing both free throws. Kevin Bailey pulled down the rebound after the second free throw that led to a Tanner Riley three at the buzzer. The Pilots, who had trailed since 4:27 in the first, reclaimed a share of the lead at the very end of the game.
The Pilots managed to reach a temporary tie with the Toreros but did no better. San Diego led for the entire overtime period. Dennis Kramer scored six of his game high 22 points during the extra period including a three on the first play. Kramer had a double double for the game with 11 rebounds. The Toreros shot 53.3% from three resulting in 24 points. Their accuracy from deep was a life saver as they shot poorly overall converting only 21 of 45 shots inside the arc and 12 of 21 free throws.
With the win San Diego moves to 6-8 in WCC play and inches closer to San Francisco for 5th place. The fifth seed in the WCC tournament is up for grabs as San Diego's last two games are against 10-4 Loyola Marymount and 11-2 Gonzaga. San Francisco plays host to Gonzaga Saturday and league leading Saint Mary's on the 25th to end the season. Portland looks stuck with the 7 seed, with BYU and Saint Mary's left to play.
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Pepperdine took an off day and scheduled a date with the conferenceless Redhawks of Seattle University. It was probably a bad decision on the Waves part as they lost the game 60-71. The Waves shot a miserable 38.7% from the field in the loss. Peppedine is playing for last place in the conference with winless Santa Clara but luckily for the Waves this game won't move them any closer to the bottom.
The WCC missed an opportunity in letting the Western Athletic Conference snatch up Seattle. The Redhawks were a WCC member from 1971-80 and is currently transitioning back into Division 1 sports.
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