Las Vegas, NV – St. Mary’s entered the West Coast Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed but that didn’t hold up as No. 2-seeded Gonzaga ran away from the start and rolled to a 77-51 win. Drew Timme had his way inside for the Zags and finished with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added six rebounds. Anton Watson helped out with nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Gonzaga had three other players in double-figures: Malachi Smith (14), Nolan Hickman (12) and Julian Strawther (10). The two teams had split their season series with St. Mary’s winning the first game79-78 in overtime, and the Gonzaga returning the favor with a 77-68 home win in the last conference game of the season for both teams.
Gonzaga came out of the gate hot and went on a 9-point run to take a 14-4 lead. Another 9-point run, capped by a Timme basket inside, extended their lead to 28-12. St. Mary’s couldn’t get much closer in the rest of the half, as the Zags closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a 37-19 lead into the break. The Gaels has no answer in guarding Timme in the post. Timme scored 14 first half points on 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Gonzaga shot 54 percent from the field compared to St. Mary’s 28 percent. The Gaels were only 1-of-7 from deep while the Zags shot 3-of-6 from downtown. Gonzaga’s 6-8 Watson lead both teams at the break with seven rebounds and three assists.
The second half didn’t go much better for the Gaels as they never made this a game. A Watson jumper doubled the score for the Zags as they took a 48-24 lead five minutes into the half. Gonzaga extended the lead to 30 points (59-29) with over nine minutes remaining. Gonzaga then coasted to the finish line in their 26-point win. Timme, who played only 20 minutes tonight as the game got out of hand early, became Gonzaga’s All-Time leading scorer. His 2,210 points passed Frank Burgess, who graduated in 1961.
The stats reflected the non-competitive nature of the game with Gonzaga having a 57%-to-33% edge in shooting while making 8-of-14 from deep compared to the Gaels’ 4-of-16. They had a rebounding edge of seven and had nine more assists than St. Mary’s.
The All-Tournament team consisted of Gonzaga’s Timme (Most Outstanding Player), Anton Watson and Julian Strawther, Alex Ducas of St, Mary’s and Khalil Shabazz (San Francisco).
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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