Feb. 25, 2012
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego Toreros gave the Gonzaga Bulldogs all they could handle Saturday night, but couldn't come away with the win in a 65-57 defeat in the WCC finale.
Gonzaga (23-5, 13-3 WCC) started the game just as strong as they finished, opening and ending the game on 8-0 runs. The Bulldogs held the Toreros scoreless through the first four minutes, but the Toreros went on a 16-9 run over the next six minutes and took their first lead of the game, 21-19, with 6:28 remaining in the first half.
The Bulldogs responded with a 12-4 run to close the half and went into the locker room with the 31-25 advantage.
San Diego (12-17, 7-9 WCC) came out with some renewed energy in the second half on a 9-3 run, highlighted by an emphatic baseline dunk by Ken Rancifer to tie the game at 34-34, forcing Gonzaga head coach Mark Few to call at timeout at the 16:00 mark.
The teams traded blows for the majority of the physical second half, as Gonzaga was in bonus at the free throw line from the 10:15 mark on. The Toreros found themselves down three points, 40-43, before freshman guard Johnny Dee fired off seven straight points to give the Toreros their biggest lead of the game at 47-43.
San Diego simply ran out of gas inside the final two minutes and Gonzaga stepped on the pedal. Rancifer knotted things up at 57-57 with 2:07 remaining on a shot-clock beating jumper. But that would be the Toreros' final points and Gonzaga made six-of-seven free throws to close the game.
"I'm really proud of the way we competed today. I'm not proud of the way the game finished," San Diego head coach Bill Grier said. "I felt coming into the game, with the way that we've been playing, if we played with that toughness we could beat them."
The difference in the game for the Toreros came at the free throw line. Dee was 5-for-5 from the line, but the rest of the team was 2-for-10.
"We just didn't make free throws today. When you look at the box score, we knew the rebounding was going to be a handful, but our free throw misses were untimely misses," Grier said. "They stopped our runs of momentum."
Dee finished tied for a game-high 13 points. Freshman guard Christopher Anderson filled up the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Dennis Kramer paced the Toreros in the first half, scoring all 10 of his points on 4-of-4 shooting, including two three-pointers. Senior guard Darian Norris finished with 10 points in his final game at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Gonzaga was led in scoring by Guy Landry Edi's 13 points. Elias Harris chipped in with seven points and 12 rebounds. Robert Sacre finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. The Bulldogs were dialed in from long range, converting 7-of-13 from behind the three-point line.
San Diego heads into the WCC tournament in Las Vegas as the sixth seed. They will face the seventh-seeded Pepperdine Waves this Thursday night, 30 minutes after the 6 p.m. game between the University of San Francisco and Portland/Santa Clara.
San Diego swept the Waves in their season series, with wins of 65-56 at home and 70-57 on the road.
Said Grier: "I think if you look at how we played this last month, this team has really come a long way. They're playing with so much confidence. I think we believe we can beat anybody going into this tournament. Now we just have to go do it."
