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Las Vegas, NV – The finals of the West Coast Conference tournament took on a familiar ring with top-seed St. Mary’s taking on No. 2-seed Gonzaga. The teams faced off for the WCC tournament title for the fourth straight year, and the sixth time in the last seven years. Both teams played good defense but also shot very poorly. Gonzaga maintained a small lead through most of the game and came away with the 58-51 win. Braden Huff led the winners with 18 points. Mitchell Saxen led the Gaels with 20 points and added seven rebounds.
St. Mary’s used the height and superior rebounding to win both previous games against Gonzaga his season, 62-58 at St. Mary’s and 74-67 at Gonzaga. Coach Mark Few tried to counter the Gaels’ advantage by starting the Huff along with 6-9 Grahan Ike. That move proved to be a good one as Huff scored seven early points to help the Bulldogs take a quick 20-7 lead. St. Mary’s countered as center Saxen scored nine points as they cut the deficit to 24-17. Harry Wessells made a nice block on an Ike layup attempt with led to a Saxen basket that cut the Gonzaga lead to 31-25. The Gaels extended their run to eight points on two Saxen free throws to reduce the margin to 31-29. Ike broke the run with a lay-in but then Ryan Nembhard was called for a technical foul (his third foul). Augustas Marciulionis (12 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists) made both free throws and the half ended with the Zags up 33-31.
Saxen scored 14 first half points for the Gaels while Luke Barrett was active again on the boards with eight rebounds. Huff led Gonzaga with nine points at the half. The Gaels continued their rebounding efficiency with a 23-14 first half advantage, including 8-4 off the offensive glass. Gonzaga had a 6-0 edge on fast break points. The Zags only committed one first half turnover compared to St. Mary’s seven and enjoyed an 11-3 edge in points off turnovers.
Gonzaga maintained a small lead for most of the first part of the second half and expanded their lead to 48-42 at the under 8-minute time out. They were helped by a lay-in by Khalif Battle. (14 points, 5 steals) after a St. Mary’s turnover. They maintained their lead at 52-47 with three minutes remaining and St. Mary’s couldn’t get closer than four points the rest of the game.
The teams shot horribly with Gonzaga making 1-of-15 on 3’s and with St. Mary’s missing all 16 of their three-point attempts. The Gaels maintained their rebounding advantage by a 43-28 margin. Gonzaga won the game with solid defense and creating turnovers. They forced 18 turnovers while committing only four and had a 20-3 edge in points off turnovers.
Graham Ike of Gonzaga was named tournament MVP. Moe Odum (Pepperdine), Saxen (St. Mary’s), Marciulionis (St. Mary’s) and Battle (Gonzaga) joined Ike on the All-Tournament team.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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