No surprises here. Gonzaga wins again at WCC Tournament
Gonzaga’s players went through the motions of accepting the West Coast Conference championship trophy and cutting down the nets at Orleans Arena after beating Saint Mary’s 82-69 on Tuesday night.
It wasn’t exactly a raucous celebration, however, as the Bulldogs winning this tournament has become as routine each March as tourists overdoing it on the Strip on St. Patrick’s Day.
No. 1 Gonzaga has won the last three WCC tournaments and nine of the last 10. It has been in the championship game 25 straight years and won 19 of those titles.
Still, it never gets old for coach Mark Few.
“I’m really happy when you see the players at the end of this thing out there on the floor with their families,” he said. “You know what was said during the recruiting process and we feel good delivering what we talked about this experience being for their son. It makes you feel good inside.”
While it marked the 10th consecutive year the WCC men’s title game was determined by double-digits, there were some tense moments for Gonzaga, which lost to Saint Mary’s in the regular-season finale.
The Bulldogs led 56-54 with 7:28 to play before Andrew Nembhard made a layup and Rasir Bolton followed with a 3-pointer, creating some separation.
After the Gaels made a free throw, Bolton scored four straight points and pushed the lead back to 10. He finished with 18 points in the victory. Nembhard paced the Bulldogs with 19 points and seven assists.
“I thought it was a good ballgame with six or eight minutes left, but we’re much past being the team that thinks it’s cool to hang in there with Gonzaga,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “That’s not our standard. We beat them once and this game should have gone down to the wire. They’re very good, though, and it’s helped make us better.”
The Gaels, who were led by Logan Johnson with 21 points, finished the season 25-7 and will await their seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament. Tommy Kuhse had 15 points and seven assists.
Gonzaga (26-3) almost certainly will get a No. 1 seed for the fifth time in six years, a feat Few is proud of accomplishing with this team.
“I think one of the most overlooked things about this season was how much we lost,” he said. “We lost three guys to the NBA. You look out in the first practice and Chet (Holmgren) gets a lot of attention, but he’s new. Rasir is new. Hunter (Sallis) is new. Nolan (Hickman) is new. Julian (Strawther) and Anton (Watson) played supporting roles for the most part.
”So you’ve got Andrew and Drew (Timme) who had been a part of this. It’s new and exciting for all those guys and you want to make it as special as it’s been for all those other groups.”
Strawther, a Las Vegas native, was a big part of it. He averaged 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this season and bounced back from an 0-for-3 effort from the field in the semifinals to put up 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting on Tuesday.
The Liberty High School alum was particularly effective during a first-half run that allowed Gonzaga to gain some early separation. He scored 10 points as part of a 14-4 run that put the Bulldogs ahead 23-16. His only basket of the second half came when Saint Mary’s got within three points with 10:50 to play.
“Yesterday wasn’t my best game, but we got the win and that’s all that matters,” he said. “I could miss a hundred shots and these guys are still going to go out there and find me in my spots. That’s what they did. They got me going early and into a rhythm, then kept finding me.
“It’s always really nice to come out here and play in front of my friends and family. Winning a title in front of them is an experience I’ll remember for my whole life and I’ll always cherish.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
