LAS
VEGAS --Josh
Heytvelt (6'11''-F-86) scored 17 points,
Micah
Downs (6'8''-G-86) added 12 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 12 Gonzaga
romped into its 11th consecutive NCAA tournament with an 83-58 victory over St.
Mary's and struggling star
Patrick Mills (6'0''-G-88) on Monday night in the West Coast Conference
final.
Matt
Bouldin (6'5''-G-88) scored 14 points for the relentless Zags (26-5), who
followed up their perfect regular-season conference slate with two blowout wins
in the tournament, giving them 19 victories in their last 20 games. With Mills
going 2-for-16 in his second game back from a broken hand, St. Mary's (25-6)
never threatened the Zags in a loss that endangers the Gaels' hopes for the
first back-to-back NCAA tournament bids in school history.
Gonzaga, which moved up two spots in Monday's Top 25 poll after routing Santa
Clara in Sunday's semifinals, has won eight of the last 12 WCC tournament titles
-- but few were so easy. Downs has the lowest scoring average among the Zags'
five starters, but he clinched the tournament MVP award with 10 points and 10
rebounds in the first half against the Gaels. St. Mary's finished with 19-for-66
shooting, falling behind by 13 points at halftime and never mounting a rally.
Mills scored five points, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts before
sitting out much of the second half, and his teammates couldn't make up for the
Australian sophomore's woes. Diamon
Simpson (6'7''-F-87) of California had 19 points and nine rebounds, and
Omar
Samhan (6'11''-C-88) added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels, who
must hope the NCAA selection committee appreciates their potential enough to
overlook a poor performance in their biggest game of the season.
There are no such concerns for Gonzaga, which lost the WCC tournament final to
San Diego last year. With remarkable depth and consistency, the Zags have won 16
consecutive conference games, earning the No. 1 seed for the 10th time in 12
years.
The Zags also have beaten St. Mary's in 26 of their last 29 meetings, preventing
a true WCC rivalry from developing. The Zags' only blemish since New Year's Day
is a non-conference loss to No. 4 Memphis. Gonzaga's fans are used to traveling
at tournament time, so they had no trouble filling the bulk of the seats at the
Orleans Arena for the WCC's first neutral-site tournament. St. Mary's was
represented by several hundred Bay Area faithful, but they were decidedly
outnumbered by the Gonzaga faithful that booed Mills early and chanted 'N-I-T,
N-I-T' late.
The night got off to an ominous start for the Gaels, who were assessed a
technical foul for dunking in the pregame warmup, although Bouldin only made one
of two free throws. St. Mary's then missed its first eight shots while Gonzaga
built a 10-point lead in the opening 4½ minutes, but Samhan helped the Gaels
stay close.
Mills had been out of the Gaels' lineup since he broke two bones in his right
hand during a game at Gonzaga on Jan. 29. While Mills underwent surgery, St.
Mary's lost four of five games before rallying with five wins in a row to close
the regular season.
Mills returned to practice a week ago, and he scored 12 points on 3-of-12
shooting in the Gaels' semifinal win over Portland, which sent them to their
first conference title game since 2005. He missed his first seven shots against
Gonzaga before making a tough layup while getting fouled with 1:51 left, but was
1-for-10 in the first half.
Courtesy of wccsports
Tournament Final: Gonzaga - Saint Mary's 83 -58 Tournament Semifinals: Gonzaga - Santa Clara 94-59
Saint Mary's - Portland 71-61
Few
LAS
VEGAS --
