Recap: Gonzaga holds off late run from San Francisco to make WCC championship

The Zags never lost their lead, but after leading by around 20 for large portions of the game, USF got the deficit down to single digits late Monday night

We’ll see you in Vegas Tuesday night.

Gonzaga men’s basketball (25-3, 14-1) made it out with its 81-71 win intact Monday night against the West Coast Conference’s third ranked San Francisco Dons (24-9, 10-6). The semifinal game to send the Zags to Tuesday’s championship looked like a sure fire GU win for  the game’s majority, but a late surge from the Dons appeared to have the Zags sweating down the stretch.

The Zags, and particularly Drew Timme, got off to a hot start as the WCC player of the year scored the games first nine of GU’s first 11 points in the first four minutes without missing a shot. The Dons meanwhile, looked out of sorts coming off their electric performance Saturday night that sat down BYU by 13 points.

They missed their first four shot attempts with guard Jamaree Bouyea sorely missing a 3-point attempt and a good look at the basket down low early. That would set an unfortunate trend for Bouyea, USF’s leading scorer all year, who finished the night with five points on 1-for-11 shooting.

Not only was Bouyea having a down night, but the Dons started at a disadvantage, missing All-WCC first team forward Yauhen Massalski. As someone who averages 9.6 rebounds a game and has 70 blocks on the season, Massalski’s absence showed itself in part in how GU’s bigs got going Monday night.

Chet Holmgren also had success around the court early, getting his night started with a drive, spin and dunk move followed up by a swish three. He and Timme bounced back quickly after one of their worst combined shooting efforts in GU’s loss to Saint Mary’s last week. Holmgren entering the half against USF with 11 points and four blocks, while Timme finished the first half with 12 points but also accrued two fouls early which saw him sit out the last eight minutes of the first period.

“[Chet] is just a one of a kind player and the more he’s been with us and playing with us, you just see his confidence and how natural things are coming to him,” Timme said. “He’s not thinking so much and just playing now.”

With Timme out for the final stretch of the first half, junior Anton Watson stepped in and stepped up. He found himself a handful of buckets down in the low post, and forced a couple turnovers with a steal and by drawing an offensive foul.

He also had four rebounds and two assists at the half, ending the game with 10 rebounds and eight points on 4-for-7 shooting.

“It was good to get Anton back, he’s played numerous games like that, we talked earlier today to about when he gets back in, changing the game, making plays and being assertive,” GU Head Coach Mark Few said. “I think over the course of the last three games he hasn’t been that and struggled, but prior to that he’s been such a lift and such a key to our attack and he allows us more versatility on the defensive end because we can do a lot more things with him out there.”

After USF managed to score once in the team’s first nine possessions, the Dons’ attack got a spark from guard Julian Rishwain off the bench while Bouyea continued to struggle and fellow guard Khalil Shabazz had only five points in the first half.

Toward the end of the first half, GU was threatening a 20-point lead going into the locker room after Nembhard knocked down an open look from mid range to make it a 19-point game. Rishwain was able to draw a foul and get to the line where he made one of two at which point Rasir Bolton quickly brought the ball up the court and found an open look to bring the lead to 20. With 45 seconds still left on the clock though, Rishwain knocked down a contested three to shrink the lead, but Bolton followed that up with a three of his own with eight seconds left to round out the half time score at 47-27.

It became a tale of two halves for Shabazz however, as he got the last 20 minutes started with two made threes. The All-WCC second team guard also had two steals early in the half and one steal late when the game started to tighten up, which put pressure on GU’s guards. Shabazz ended with a game-high 27 points on an 8-for-18 second half shooting split.

On the whole, USF went from shooting 29.4% in the first half to 46.8% in the second half. That, along with a full court press implemented by USF Head Coach Todd Golden late in the game, contributed to a 21-6 run from USF in the game's waning minutes.

“[We had] a few turnovers down the stretch and then we also got in little trouble fouling too much and letting them get some good three looks and that’s how we let them get back in the game,” Nembhard said. “We got to be more crisp down the stretch for sure.”

Despite being in foul trouble for a majority of the game and logging 25 minutes of action, Timme still had a team-high 22 points for GU on 9-for-13 shooting. Holmgren ended with 17 points on 70% shooting and had six blocks, while Andrew Nembhard dropped 17 on a spread of open mid-range looks and driving layups to go along with nine assists.

A total of eight second half turnovers and an overall stagnated offense by GU late led to USF mounting a comeback that saw the Zags’ lead get cut down to single digits at times. However, in the game’s tightest moment with time winding down, Bolton was able to knock down a couple of needed free throws which locked up a 10-point win for GU.

The No. 1 team in the country is now set for a rematch with the No. 17 SMC Gaels on Tuesday for the WCC championship in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. PST on ESPN.