Tournament collapses from years past flashed through the eyes of every Gonzaga fan when Matt Bouldin went down at half court and turned the ball over to put the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers within two points in the last minute of last night's thrilling round of 32 game.  When the tip-in went in for the Hilltoppers to tie the game with nine seconds went in, I was sure that history was bound to repeat itself. 

Luckily, for Gonzaga, Demetri Goodson probably has no clue about Gonzaga's tournament issues and has never heard of the Gonzaga tournament games against UCLA, or Davidson, or even Indiana.  Meech just knows how to win and while he may have been an unlikely hero, Gonzaga fans had to be confident in the youngster as he drove down the court to hit the winning shot with less than a second left.  Goodson's shot last night immediately put him in the Gonzaga hall of fame and while I am sure that he is going to have an outstanding career at Gonzaga, I don't think he can re-create a moment as perfect as the one he capitalized on last night.

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It was everything the departing seniors could have asked for and more.  Five Gonzaga Bulldogs played their last game in McCarthey Athletic Center tonight and they will all leave Gonzaga with some fond memories of their home court.  Andrew Sorenson will remember his very well as his most outstanding performance came on his senior night and it is something that he does not plan on forgetting for quite some time.

"This is going to be a long-told story, my kids are going to get sick of it." Sorenson said after the game.

Sorenson, who walked on to the team after spending his first year at Gonzaga as a member of the Kennel Club, finished his final game with a career high 15 points on 5-11 shooting as Gonzaga defeated South Carolina Upstate tonight 90-40 in Spokane.  Even though Matt Bouldin was the high point scorer tonight with 16, the night belonged to the five seniors that the Spokane community said goodbye to.  Sorenson started the game along with seniors Jeremy Pargo, Micah Downs, Ira Brown, and Josh Heytvelt and each one of them were praised throughout the night.  All five were accompanied at the game by family members or close friends and were sent off the court at the end of the game with a rousing standing ovation from the 6,000 that were in attendance.

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Normally the home crowd is supposed to help the home team but Santa Clara's student section, the "Rough Riders", seemed to be in favor of Gonzaga.  The Broncos were playing some great basketball in the second half and actually tied the game up at 56.  Gonzaga then went on a run that was aided by the Santa Clara student section throwing objects on the court, causing a technical foul against the Broncos bench.  Kerry Keating implored the students to refrain from throwing things on the court but they didn't listen and later in the game, some sort of wrapper was thrown on the court, causing another technical foul.  Matt Bouldin cashed in on the free throw attempts and Gonzaga was able to escape Santa Clara with their 13th conference win. 

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You couldn't help but feel good for Josh Heytvelt tonight.  The embattled center has had a tumultous five years in Spokane but he capped off his home conference career with a bang tonight.  Heytvelt, who had been building up to  major game for a couple weeks now, finished the game with 28 points and 11 rebounds as the Zags downed Pepperdine, 92-58.  Josh did nothing out of the ordinary tonight as we have become well acquainted with his big performances coming against the Waves.  In their first match up this season, Josh scored 25 points in another big Gonzaga victoy. 

Even though Heytvelt stole the show tonight in Spokane, he wasn't the only Bulldog that played well.  Junior guard Matt Bouldin had an outstanding first half of basketball and finished with 16 points, all coming in the first twenty minutes.  Matt had a very confident jumper early on and hit several three pointers before taking it easy in the second half.  Although he shot 0-5 from beyond the arc, senior wing Micah Downs finished with 14 points and was equally impressive on the defensive side of the court, finishing with three steals.  Speaking of unhearlded, congratulations to senior guard Jeremy Pargo who took over sole posession of fourth place on Gonzaga's all-time assists list with 557.  His three assists tonight broke the tie he held on fourth place with John Stockton, who happens to be the all-time NBA assist leader.  Not bad company.

Overall, the game was basically a carbon copy of the LMU game a few days before.  Mark Few once again did a great job making sure that the offense ran through Josh Heytvelt which is going to become very important as tournament time approaches.  There is no doubt that Josh's confidence has got to be about as high as it ever has and he really capitalized on his opportunities, making 12 of his 17 attempts.  Credit must also be given to the guards tonight as they fed the post with extreme ease.  In fact, Gonzaga only turned the ball over eight times tonight which is a very welcome number based on previous total.  The man defense stifled the Waves tonight as they shot a chilly 34% from the field.  Hopefully the man defense continues to show up as we get closer and closer to the tournament.

Congrats to the Zags on their ninth straight regular season conference championship.  While the season has had it's ups and downs, nine straight is an amazing accomplishment for Mark Few and this Gonzaga team.  The Zags' WCC schedule concludes on the road this coming week with games against Santa Clara and San Diego before returning home to finish off the season against mighty South Carolina Upstate.

Tonight was a perfect example of what happens when a two win team in the WCC visits a hungry Gonzaga team.  There was no slow start for the Zags as I believe they jumped out to a 17-2 lead to start the game even though LMU got the brownie points with their first two points coming off an alley-oop dunk.  For the Lions, it was all downhill from there.  It's very difficult to judge a game when the opponent is a team like LMU but Gonzaga appeared to have an extra gear tonight.  The Zags, who defeated the Lions 91-54, were led by the two players that have been battling for a spot in the starting lineup this season.  Steven Gray, who has been relegated to the sixth man role, came out hot tonight, shooting 7-10 from the floor including 5-7 from three-point range.  Micah Downs, who began the year as a starter and has recently returned to that role,  had 16 points on 4-9 shooting.  Both players finished with six rebounds and Downs finished with two blocked shots.

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I'll be the first to admit it.  I'm guilty.  I expected way too much of this team coming into the season.  The talent level of this Gonzaga Bulldogs team is through the roof on paper but it has become pretty obvious that through 23 games this team is not ready for the big time.  Each game since December, with some minor exceptions, seems to bring up the same issues.  Rebounding, free-throw shooting, chemistry, inconsistency, etc, etc, etc.  Tonight, each of these issues came out in full force and nearly cost Gonzaga the game.

Here's the AP style recap:  Gonzaga won a nailbiter in Moraga tonight, 72-70 over a fiesty St. Mary's squad, who was missing their heart and soul, Patty Mills.  Josh Heytvelt was brilliant tonight in 34 minutes.  He really controlled the paint in his 20 point, 10 rebound performance.  Matt Bouldin continues to put up gaudy stats against the WCC with 21 points.

my take after the jump...it's an elaboration of the first paragraph, not the second.

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I've hit a major breaking point with the West Coast Conference.    The last two games I have seen Gonzaga play have been nearly impossible to watch.  In case you missed it, and you might have, the Zags road trip down to California concluded tonight with a 93-60 demolition of the Loyola Marymount Lions.  Gonzaga was once again led by the outstanding efforts of Matt Bouldin and Josh Heytvelt, who had 18 and 15 points, respectively.

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After the first four minutes and change, it was pretty obvious where this game was going.  The Zags jumped out early and often on Pepperdine tonight in Malibu, scoring the first 17 points of the game and they never looked back.  The Waves did in fact get on the board after Mycheal Thompson hit a jumper at the 13:54 mark but they didn't really stand a chance.

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