Gonzaga Defeats Toreros

Going into the weekend, University of San Diego basketball Coach Hank Egan may have been satisfied with a split of his team’s first West Coast Athletic Conference trip.

But after Saturday night’s 58-46 loss in front 3,427 at Gonzaga University’s Martin Centre, he was anything but satisfied.

“There’s no way we can go home pleased,” Egan said. “Not the way we played tonight.

“We got outhustled and we got beat on the boards.”

At least a split was assured Thursday night when the Toreros edged Portland, 61-59, in overtime. But Thursday night’s victory may have been part of Saturday night’s loss.

“We played a lot of kids early,” Gonzaga Coach Dan Fitzgerald said, “because we thought we could wear them down a bit. We were fortunate to get them on the second night.”

Egan saw something else he thought was fortunate for Gonzaga.

“I cannot believe other teams come in here and shoot less free throws than they (the Bulldogs) do,” Egan said. “I guess at our end it was physical and at their end it was great execution.”

Gonzaga, which stands atop the WCAC standings at 2-0 (10-4 overall), shot 26 free throws, making 20.

USD, also 10-4 overall, shot 13, making 9.

It was in the second half that Gonzaga may have taken advantage of the Toreros’ road weariness, and it was the Bulldog defense leading the swing.

USD, which had been shooting 49% from the floor this season, hit only 17 of 49 shots (35%) against Gonzaga’s mixture of zone and man-to-man.

Two times in the second half the Bulldogs’ defense keyed scoring spurts.

The first came with 15 minutes left and Gonzaga leading, 28-26, after USD’s Paul Leonard hit a three-pointer. Gonzaga held the Toreros scoreless over the next 2:26 and opened an eight-point lead.

That lead pretty much stood up until there were seven minutes left. Then Gonzaga turned up the heat again, outscored USD 8-0 over the next four minutes and pretty well iced it.

“We never got into our offense,” Egan said. “It was one pass and shoot.”

That was what Fitzgerald was looking for.

“We thought, surprisingly enough, that the game would be won at guard,” he said, and surprisingly enough, it probably was.

The Toreros’ starting backcourt of Leonard and Danny Means combined to hit 6 of 13 shots for 16 points.

But it had been Leonard, who fouled out Saturday night with 31 seconds left, leading the way against Portland, scoring 22 points Thursday night on 11-of-16 shooting. Saturday night he was 2 of 7.

Means, meanwhile, scored 11 points.

Center Scott Thompson led the Toreros with 12 points but hit only 5 of 13. Add to that the 7-footer’s total of zero rebounds and it’s easy to see why the shorter Bulldogs outrebounded USD, 36-25.

Center Dale Haaland led Gonzaga with 13 points (hitting all four of his shots) and 7 rebounds while guard Jim McPhee added 10 points.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for USD and extended Gonzaga’s to seven.