Gonzaga Puts Away USD in OT

The University of San Diego basketball team made its first forced march of the season and couldn’t keep pace with Gonzaga.

The result was a 71-69 West Coast Conference victory by Gonzaga in overtime in front of 2,316 in the USD Sports Center.

The Toreros started the day without backup center Reed Watson, sitting out a one-game suspension resulting from a scuffle in Thursday’s game against Portland. And Saturday, scoring leader Kelvin Woods was fighting the flu. He managed to play 28 minutes but got only four points.

So the short-handed Toreros used only seven players and appeared to run out of steam down the stretch. Gonzaga wiped out a 16-point second-half deficit and never trailed after taking its first lead at 58-57 late in regulation.

After Gylan Dottin tied the game at the end of regulation and again on a jumper with eight seconds to go in overtime, the game was clinched when Gonzaga center Jeff Brown beat the defense downcourt, took a pass from Geoff Goss and scored a layup at the buzzer.

“I don’t know what happened (at the end); it was just a breakdown,” USD Coach Hank Egan said. “That should never happen. We should be in another overtime.”

The loss dropped USD into third place in the WCC at 3-2, 11-7 overall. Gonzaga improved to 2-2, 12-5.

Brown led Gonzaga with 20 points, and Jarrod Davis added 17. Brooks Barnhard, playing 38 minutes, had a career-high 22 points for USD, with Dottin adding 16, Wayman Strickland and Michael Brown 10 each. The starting guards, Brown and Geoff Probst, played 34 and 44 minutes.

The Toreros shot 51% for the game but appeared bothered by a Gonzaga zone defense in the second half and made only five field goals after taking a 48-32 lead with 14:09 left in regulation.

“We were recognizing what was going on,” Egan said. “We had a couple easy shots and missed ‘em and that helped (Gonzaga) get back in.”

Gonzaga Coach Dan Fitzgerald said, “I thought our zone hurt ‘em considerably. We got close enough that the shots were coming tighter. I think down the stretch we won defensively, then we got lucky.”

Dottin, who played 40 minutes, cooly sank two free throws to tie the game at 59 with 33 seconds left in regulation.

Davis opened the overtime with a driving basket, and his two free throws gave Gonzaga a 88-84 lead with 55 seconds left, but Strickland hit a three-pointer to pull USD to within a point at the 41-second mark.

Matt Stanford made one free throw for a 69-67 lead with 40 seconds to go.

Egan called a timeout with 20 seconds left and called a play for Dottin, who dribbled into the lane, pulled up and hit a jumper for a 69-69 tie. But Gonzaga beat the Toreros downcourt, and Brown got the open basket.

Even without Watson, the Toreros got off to a fast start, taking a 15-9 lead on Barnhard’s first three-point basket of the season.

With a late 8-2 run, the Toreros built a 39-30 halftime lead. USD shot 64% in the half and made three of four three-pointers, while holding Gonzaga to 44% from the field.

USD scored the first five points of the second half on the way to the 48-32 lead.

Gonzaga came back with runs of 10-2, 8-0 and 6-0 and steadily closed in. When Stanford sank two free throws the Bulldogs were within a point, 57-56, and Goss followed with a driving layup to give Gonzaga its first lead with 3:30 to play.

Both teams went scoreless for nearly two and a half minutes before Jamie Dudley made one of two free throws to build Gonzaga’s lead to 59-57 with 1:04 left.

Dottin tied the score with two free throws with 33 seconds left. Gonzaga worked for the final shot, but Davis’ pullup jumper was off. Dudley recovered and shot at the buzzer but it was blocked by Dottin to force overtime.