Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2008

Gonzaga keeps rolling

By Howie Stalwick, Special to the Herald

SPOKANE -- Eddie Sutton came out of retirement in search of career victory No. 800, but nearly half a century in coaching made him reasonably certain the milestone wasn't destined to take place Monday night at Gonzaga.

"I would have bet a lot of money that we weren't going to beat Gonzaga tonight," he said. "They're a lot better than we are."

The Bulldogs spent much of the game looking very much like a team with its mind on its upcoming game with top-ranked Memphis, but the Zags utilized their edge in experience and talent to down Sutton's San Francisco Dons 72-64.

Steven Gray, a freshman from Bainbridge, led Gonzaga with a season-high 16 points. San Francisco was led by the 21 points of Texas Tech transfer Dior Lowhorn.

"Steven had another strong game," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "He really made some plays, defensively and knocking down some shots."

The 71-year-old Sutton, hired Dec. 26 as an interim replacement for Jesse Evans, was coming off his first victory in five games with the Dons on Saturday at Portland. That improved Sutton's record in 37 years of NCAA Division I coaching to 799-319 (.715). The 799 wins rank eighth in D-1 history, and Sutton also won 83 junior college games at Southern Idaho and 119 high school games in Tulsa, Okla.

Alas, the legendary Sutton lost Monday to a budding legend. Few, who ranks third in Division I history for victories in his first nine years as a head coach -- all spent at Gonzaga boosted his career record to 226-56 (.801).

Gonzaga improved to 15-4 overall, 4-0 in the West Coast Conference. The Bulldogs visit 17-0 Memphis on Saturday (9 a.m., ESPN).

San Francisco slipped to 5-13 and 1-2 after losing to Gonzaga for the sixth straight time, and for the 19th straight time at Gonzaga.

"We did what we had to do," Few said. "It wasn't perfect, but I thought we played some stretches of very good basketball."

The Bulldogs never trailed, but they played in spurts and let San Francisco pull within six before Gray sank a pair of free throws to end the scoring with 20.4 seconds left.

"We let it (intensity) slack a little bit," Gray said. "We've got to keep up that intensity, that energy."

Both teams shot the ball miserably at the game's outset, but the Bulldogs soon put together an 11-0 run to go up 15-4. The Dons forged an 18-18 tie, but two thunderous dunks by little-used JC transfer Ira Brown late in the half ignited the sellout crowd of 6,000 and helped Gonzaga take a 37-29 lead into the locker room.

Matt Bouldin and Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga's top two scorers, sat out much of the first half with two fouls. Bouldin finished with 10 points, Heytvelt with six.

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