Back on top: Gonzaga rides defense, Braden Huff’s clutch performance to title-game win over Saint Mary’s

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Mar. 11—LAS VEGAS — Graham Ike raced off the floor to celebrate after the buzzer sounded and went airborne trying to chest bump every player on Gonzaga’s bench.

About 10 minutes later, after he was named West Coast Conference Tournament most outstanding player and the Zags collected the hardware by out-scrapping Saint Mary’s 58-51 in Tuesday’s title game at Orleans Arena, the big man parked himself on a portable stage, cradled the trophy and took picture after picture with family, teammates and fans.

“Man, priceless,” Ike said. “Just how I envisioned it. Great group of guys, great way to send off the senior group.”

And a great time to win your first championship since when exactly?

“Forever,” said Ike, including his youth basketball days. “Forever. Me and Ryan (Nembhard) talked about this moment maybe two months ago, just how we wanted to get our first one (in college). And we did it.”

Gonzaga, which never led in a Senior Night loss to Saint Mary’s last month, never trailed in their third showdown this season against the Gaels. That doesn’t mean anything came easy for the second-seeded Zags. They also never blinked, even after a 13-point first-half lead melted away and Saint Mary’s pulled even early in the second half.

Gonzaga fended off several Saint Mary’s rallies and made all the key plays in crunch time — a missing element when the Gaels swept the two regular-season games — to cement a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the WCC’s automatic bid.

The Zags relied on defense — SMC committed a season-high 18 turnovers — and sophomore Braden Huff was huge in just his second career start, scoring a team-high 18 points, including a couple of big baskets in the final 5 minutes.

Gonzaga capitalized with 20 points off turnovers, just over one-third of their point total, against an opponent known for ball security and shutting down opponents’ transition game.

“We tried everything,” Zags coach Mark Few said. “And that’s why they’re so good. We started out great with zone-to-man,…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/back-top-gonzaga-rides-defense-035900080.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2025-03-12 03:59:00

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