Stories from The Spokesman-Review

Free daily coverage from the newspaper.

Get stories via RSS     Return to headline list

Gonzaga finishes with style

Zags soar past Pilots behind Morrison, Turiaf and claim WCC title outright

Steve Bergum  •  Staff writer
Published February 25, 2005

Ronny Turiaf shoots over Portland's Pooh Jeter during the first half on Thursday. (Craig Mitchelldyer/Special to the Spokesman-Review) >>See slideshow of game photos

PORTLAND, Ore. – Faced with the unsettling prospect of, perhaps, having to share the wealth in this year's tightly contested West Coast Conference men's basketball race, the Gonzaga Bulldogs opted, once again, to go stingy.

Led by sophomore Adam Morrison, who scored a game-high 22 points, and senior Ronny Turiaf, who added 14 along with 11 rebounds, the 12th-ranked Zags grounded Portland 84-68 Thursday night at the Chiles Center to clinch another outright regular-season conference championship in the WCC finale for both teams.

The title was the fifth straight for the Bulldogs (22-4 overall, 12-2 in the WCC), who close out their regular-season schedule Monday night with a non-conference game with Northern Colorado that tips off at 6 in the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Zags, who outrebounded Portland 38-30 and shot 50 percent (15 of 30) from the field, won their ninth straight. Junior center J.P. Batista finished with 13 points for GU, while sophomore point guard Derek Raivio added 12 to give the Bulldogs four players in double figures.

Portland (15-13, 4-10) lost its fourth straight and seventh in its last nine games, despite getting 20 points from Eastern Washington transfer Darren Cooper and 13 from junior point guard Pooh Jeter.

Morrison scored 14 of his points in the opening period as the Bulldogs withstood an early burst by Portland to carve out a comfortable 38-25 halftime lead. The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward scored from everywhere and in every way imaginable – except from beyond the 3-point line – and hit a couple of tough shots just prior to intermission to give GU a little extra separation.

He then added two more buckets to fuel a 12-8 run the Zags used to open the second half and put the Pilots away.

Portland got back-to-back 3-pointers from Karl Aaker and Darren Cooper to open a 17-13 lead 8 minutes into the game, but GU answered with a solid 21-2 run that included 14 unanswered points and put the Bulldogs ahead 34-19. The Pilots went just over 5 minutes, 30 seconds without scoring and 8 minutes between field goals. They turned the ball over five times during their decisive drought, missed four shots and had five others rejected by a swarming GU defense that finished the game with 11 blocks – five courtesy of Turiaf, who seems driven to make every play as his remarkable college career winds down. His double-double was the 24th of his career.

Following Monday's game against Northern Colorado, GU will have five days to prepare for next week's WCC tournament, which starts next Friday at Santa Clara.

As the league champions, the Bulldogs have earned the tournament's No. 1 seed and a bye into the semifinals, where they will face either the league's fourth-, fifth- or eighth-place finisher next Sunday in a 6 p.m. game that will be televised live on ESPN2.