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gonzaga bulldogs

Michigan Wins Title at Players Era Championship with Dominant Performance

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV. – Michigan completed an amazing performance, winning the title at the  Players Era Championship in Las Vegas with a 101-61 shellacking of previously undefeated Gonzaga. The Wolverines won their three games by a combined 110 points in the best performance at any major basketball event that I have witnessed. Yaxel Lendeborg led the winners with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two highlight reel dunks.

Michigan notched dominant wins over San Diego State (94-54) and Auburn (102-72) before tonight’s performance. This game was never in doubt as the Wolverines raced out to a 20-5 lead and went into the half leading by 24 points. The second half was the same as Michigan kept increasing their lead to as much as 46 points. Michigan’s frontcourt of 7’3 Aday Mara, 6’9 Morez Johnson Jr. and the 6’9 Lendeborg bottled up the inside and took Gonzaga’s Graham Ike out of his game. Ike finished with one point missing on all of his nine field goal attempts. Michigan outscored Gonzaga 30-0 on layups. Besides Lendeborg’s efforts, Johnson Jr. finished with 11 points (5-6 FG), five rebounds and two blocks. Mara added 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks while Lendeborg added two blocked shots of his own.

Beside completely dominating the game inside, the Wolverines receive excellent performances from their guards. Starting point guard Elliot Cadeau dished out 13 assists against only two turnovers. Nimari Burnett (14 points) connected on all four of his three-point attempts and added six boards. Freshman Trey McKinney came off the bench to score 17 points over 21 minutes and made 3-of-5 from deep. Roddy Gayle Jr. connected on all his three shots and scored nine points.  The thought on Michigan prior to the season was that if they could get good play and decent three-point shooting from their guards they could be one of the best teams in the nation. That has been happening, as tonight their rotation guards combined to shoot 8-of-14 on 3’s and contributed 23 assists against only 10 turnovers.

The Wolverines shot 13-of-27 from deep in total while shooting 60% from the field overall. They held the Zags to 3-of-22 shooting on 3’s and only 33.8% overall.  For Gonzaga, Tyon Grant-Foster played hard throughout, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Braden Huff had some success inside, finishing with 14 points and six boards before fouling out. All in all, it was a performance to remember from Michigan this week in Las Vegas.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.

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Gonzaga’s Defense Helps Them Win WCC Tournament Title

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

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.

We are looking for those interested in our basketball scout apprenticeship program. For information contact us and forward your resume.

St. Mary’s and Gonzaga to Meet Again for WCC Tournament Title

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV – The semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament took place tonight with Pepperdine trying for their fourth win in four days as they faced top-seed St. Mary’s. In the second game San Francisco took on No. 2-seed Gonzaga.  Both favored teams won and St. Mary’s and Gonzaga will face for the WCC tournament title for the fourth straight year, and the sixth time in the last seven years.

In the opener St. Mary’s showed why they are one of the top defensive and rebounding teams in the nation, shutting down a hot Pepperdine team and ran way with an 74-59 win. They held the Waves to 39% shooting overall and only 20% (5-of-18) on three-pointers. Paulius Murauskas scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the winners. Point guard Augustas Marciulionis also scored 15 points and added seven rebounds and five assists with no turnovers. Luke Barrett added 13 + 8. Moe Odum led the Waves with 19 points.

Pepperdine’s (13-22) Odum continued his hot shooting early, scoring ten points as the Waves took a 18-13 lead. The Gaels came right back, going on a 10-point run to take a 5-point lead. Four straight points from 6-8 Lithuanian forward Murauskas extended St. Mary’s lead to 30-21. They maintained that lead the rest of the half, going into the break with a 39-29 lead. Barrett was all over the court for the Gaels scoring nine points and adding seven rebounds.  Marciulionis also scored nine points. Odum led the Waves with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

St. Mary’s came into the game rated No. 11 in defensive efficiency according to Kenpom and they made it tough for Stefan Todorovic to get off an uncontested shot. Todorovic, averaging 24 points over the first three games, scored eight points in the half on only 2-of-9 shooting. He finished the game with ten points on 3-of-14 from the field.

In the second half, a lay-in after an offensive rebound by Murauskas extended the Gaels’ lead to 48-33.  The lead was 21 points (59-38) at the under 12-minute time out and St. Mary’s didn’t look back. They led by as many as 28 points (68-40) and coasted to the win, resting their starters for tomorrow’s title game. Pepperdine closed the game on a 14-2 run, making the final score closer than it could have been.

The Gaels came in as one of the top rebounding teams in the country, rated No. 2 with a 40.2 offensive rebounding percentage. They also limit their opponents to a 25.1 offensive rebounding percentage (ranked No. 15).  That advantage was evident tonight as in the first half the Gaels had a 25-12 rebounding edge with an 8-4 edge on the offensive glass. For the game St. Mary’s outrebounded the Waves 45-22, including 15-7 on the offensive boards.

In the second game, Gonzaga faced a San Francisco squad that was missing their starting point guard, Marcus Williams, who was out of action due to a possible NCAA rules violation. Ryan Beasley, starting in place of Williams, got the Dons off to a decent start by scoring their first seven points. Michael Ayayi came off the bench to give a boost to the Zags with two strong dunks. Back-to-back three-pointers from Junjie “Barry” Wong gave the Dons a 29-24 lead. A three-pointer from Beasley (10 first half points) gave USF a 37-35 halftime lead. Grahan Ike led the Dons with 10 points and seven rebounds. Ayayi played well and provided energy, ending the half with nine points and seven boards.

Ike scored eight straight points for the Zags starting the second half as the Zags took a 43-39 lead. Khalif Battle then got hot, hitting a three-pointer midway through the half to give the Zags a 59-53 lead. A dunk by the Dons’ Tyrone Riley cut the lead to 60-59 with under eight minutes left. Five quick points by Ike extended the Zags lead to 67-61. Gonzaga (24-8) was solid the rest of the game and closed out with an 85-76 win over San Francisco (24-9).

Graham Ike led the Zags with 27 points and ten rebounds. Battle added 21 points (3-of-6 3’s) and Ryan Nembhard added eight assists against only one turnover. Malik Thomas led the Dons with 27 points (5-of-8 3’s), eight rebounds and four assists.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.

We are looking for those interested in our basketball scout apprenticeship program. For information contact us and forward your resume.