A Review of West Coast Conference Action, Saturday December 7th
By Josh Horton
Dec 7, 2013; Spokane, WA, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Kevin Pangos (4) tries to save the ball from going out of bound during a game against the New Mexico State Aggies during the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
The WCC teams in action today played some very tough opponents, and a good portion came out with victories. Out of the 6 teams playing today, 4 of them netted wins, all against solid teams. Here is a recap of today’s action.
BYU 96, Massachusetts 105
The Minutemen proved to be too much for BYU, especially when the Cougars were on defense. UMass shot 55.6 percent from the field, and starting guard Chaz Williams dropped 32 on BYU.
Tyler Haws was the leading scorer for BYU today with 25. Matt Carlino was not far behind with 23.
Freshman forward Eric Mika grabbed 8 rebounds, to lead BYU on the boards. Carlino’s 6 assists was a team-high for the Cougars today.
Pacific 78, Utah State 68
Pacific just added to an impressive resume with a road win against Utah State. The Tigers limited a potent offensive team to only 68 points and shoot 42.3 percent from the field as well 27.3 percent from three.
Andrew Bock and T.J. Wallace were fantastic tonight. Bock led the Tigers with 18 points, and Wallace chipped in 15 points as well as 4 assists (team-high) and 6 rebounds.
Tony Gill pulled down 7 rebounds, which was a team- high for Pacific.
With the victory, Pacific improves to 7-1, with its only loss against Oregon. Not a bad start to the year.
Pepperdine 75, UC Irvine 69
A dominate second half put the Waves over the edge and allowed them to snag a quality road victory over UC Irvine.
Stacy Davis, Jeremy Major and Malcolm Brooks had nice scoring nights for the Waves. Davis and Major had 18 points apiece, and Brooks scored 16 as well. Davis’ 10 rebounds was good for a team-high and a double-double.
More insight and analysis will come from our staff writer James Piggot
Portland 92, Portland State 76
The Pilots took the title of best college basketball team in Portland tonight with a 16 point victory over their crosstown rivals the Portland State Vikings.
Kevin Bailey scored a game-high 23 points and Thomas Van der Mars scored 19 points and snagged 18 rebounds.
More coverage will come from our Portland Pilots staff writer David Thompson.
Santa Clara 53, Cal Poly 64
Santa Clara fell to a very solid Cal Poly squad on the road tonight.
The Broncos had no answer for Mustang guard Dave Nwaba, who scorched them for 21 points. Chris Eversley controlled the boards with 15 rebounds.
Santa Clara was led by Evan Roquemore and Brandon Clark, who both scored 12 points. Redshirt freshman Nate Kratch got the start at forward tonight, and had another solid statistical outing with 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Senior Jerry Brown pulled down 9 rebounds, a team-high. Clarks 5 assists led the Broncos tonight.
With the loss, Santa Clara moves to 2-5 on the season.
Gonzaga 80, New Mexico State 68
The Zags took down a very big and talented New Mexico State team today, thanks to great second half performances from Sam Dower and Gerard Coleman.
Dower led the Bulldogs with 22 points, and Coleman was close behind with 21 points. Dower and Coleman threw down some enormous dunks that energized the crowd and ignited the Gonzaga bench.
Kevin Panogs and Przemek Karnowski pulled down 9 rebounds apiece, leading the team in that category. Pangos’ 6 assists was also a team-high.
Daniel Mullings dropped 17 points to lead the Aggies. Tshilidzi Nephawe grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds, Mullings dished out 5 assists and 7 foot 6 center Sim Bhullar blocked a team-high 4 shots.
Gonzaga improved to 8-1 with the victory.