The last time Gonzaga stepped foot inside Jenny Craig Pavilion, they exited amid a flurry of court-rushing Torero faithful in last years’ thrilling West Coast Conference championship.
The Bulldogs returned hungry Saturday in seek of an unprecedented third 14-0 West Coast Conference title.
Fresh off avenging an earlier loss with a 66-60 victory over Portland Thursday, San Diego traded shots with No. 17 Gonzaga early on, but Torero fans were held in their seats this time around as the Bulldogs proved to be too deep and too much in a 58-47 defeat.
A USD victory or a Portland win at Santa Clara would have secured the No. 4 seed and first round bye in the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas this weekend. But Santa Clara slipped past Portland 65-63 in overtime, setting up a Friday night match-up for the Toreros against Loyola Marymount (3-27, 2-12 WCC).
The Zags—who clinched the No. 1 tournament seed and a bye into the semifinal round with a victory at LMU Feb 19—completed their third sweep of the WCC in the past six seasons.
With momentum building and a 15-10 advantage midway through the first half for San Diego (15-15, 6-8 WCC), the pendulum quickly swung once Jeremy Pargo, the 2008 WCC Player of the Year, converted two consecutive steals at half court into buckets at the other end. The thefts led to a 10-0 run for the Zags from which the Toreros would never recover.
“That’s a dang good team,” San Diego coach Bill Grier said. “You have to play darn near perfect to beat them.”
Grier would know after serving as an assistant coach at Gonzaga for 16 years, including the final eight seasons as a top assistant, before taking over the Toreros' job last season.
The Zags (23-5, 14-0 WCC) held USD to 18 points in the first half and the Toreros' shooting percentages for the game were 37.2 overall (16-for-43), 31.3 from three-point range (5-for-16) and 66.7 (10-for-15) from the free-throw line
“There’s a reason why they are the No. 1 defensive field-goal-percentage team in the country,” Grier said. “They are so long and when they start switching we can’t get clean looks making it very tough to score.”
“A big point in that game,” Grier said, “was when Pargo got back-to-back steals. It really changed the momentum and we just weren’t able to steer the ship back in our direction offensively.”
The USD faithful gave their farewell to Gyno Pomare, the all-time leader in points and rebounds, with a standing ovation as he exited the floor before the end of regulation for the last time.
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