Gonzaga Pulls Away From Saint Mary’s, Takes Control of WCC

On Thursday, January 22 Gonzaga made the St. Mary’s Gaels feel like a New England Patriots’ football: deflated.  The game was close in the first half, but the Zags ended up winning big by a score of 68-47.

The Zags were able to improve the nation’s longest home winning streak to 35 games.  They did this through balanced offense and stout defense.

Gonzaga spread the ball around very well.  Due to this, the scoring was distributed quite evenly.  Kevin Pangos led the team with 14 points.  Przemek Kanowski had 12, Kyle Wiltjer had 11, Gary Bell Jr. had nine, and Domantas Sabonis had seven.  This even scoring was tough for the Gaels to handle as they could not key on one specific player.  Sabonis was a monster on the boards, hauling in a game high 13 rebounds.  Pangos made some great passes and led all players with five assists.

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For St. Mary’s, Brad Waldow led the team with 14 points.  This is below his average number of points per game at 20.1.  There are three phrases to describe Waldow’s game tonight: fatigued, frustrated, and foul trouble.  Waldow came out firing.  He made some quick shots and at first it looked like he would have a big game.  Gonzaga then started double teaming him on defense.  He would kick the ball out to a guard, but the guards did not shoot well from three point range.  The Gaels shot only 13.3% going 2-15 from deep.  Eventually Waldow got tired and missed shots that he normally would make.  This led to much frustration of both ends of the court.  He started playing lazy defense and eventually picked up four fouls.  He only had two points in the second half and he wasn’t even on the court toward the end of the game.

The Zags were able to control the tempo for the whole game.  They took good shots for the most part and were able to capitalize on defense.  The Zags only allowed the Gaels to score 47 points.  Only St. Joe’s scored less at 42 points.  Because of this strong showing, the Zags remain the only undefeated team in the WCC.

Looking ahead, both teams play on Saturday, January 24.  Gonzaga will take on Pacific.  St. Mary’s will head to Portland to take on the Pilots.