With their usual leader Derek Raivio hampered by the flu and struggling to shoot from the floor and Mallon still hurting from his sprained ankle and an early elbow to the head Monday, the Zags needed other players to step up if they were going to have chance to win on the road, and the younger players responded in fine fashion

On Monday it was Micah Downs who led the way for the Zags, with his scoring spurts, defense and key rebounding. Despite having the least experience in a Gonzaga uniform, Downs’ natural ability simply took over the game for stretches on Monday and was too much for the Toreros to handle. Micah scored a quick 5 points in the first half to help the Bulldog’s build a double digit lead, but it was his 9 consecutive points in the middle of the second half, on his way to a game and career high 20, which brought the team out of a deficit and gave them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. As the Bulldog’s struggled to score and were not getting open looks out of the offense in the second half Downs simply used his superior ability to get the Zags buckets. Micah showed his whole offensive package during his impressive second half, with a rebound tip-in, a drive to the basket where he scored an acrobatic lay-in while being fouled, a fast break alley-oop, a mid-range leaning jumper, and a catch and shoot three pointer. Not only was Micah’s scoring what the team needed desperately in a must win game, but his defense and rebounding also sparked the Zags, as he pulled down 6 rebounds and had a steal and block to stop what appeared to be sure baskets for San Diego. The last three games Micah has stepped up and produced big games for Gonzaga and shown that he is the type of player who can create his own scoring opportunities and defend multiple positions, both qualities which are needed to compete at the elite level.

PMAC and Pendo came off the bench with Downs, and just like Micah they made immediate and important impacts on the game. PMAC had one of his best games of the year, as he scored 6 points to go with 3 assists and 3 rebounds, while providing good perimeter defense to help slow the red-hot DeRogatis and contain Johnson. PMAC always brings the defensive presence the team needs, but when he is offensively confident and aggressive as he was Monday he can bring significant contributions because he can create easy points with his quickness for himself as well as his teammates. Pendo was the first player off the bench again Monday, and as he has done for the past month when he has been arguably the Zags most consistent and important player, he did everything the team needed to win the ball game. David played great defense against larger post players, including two early steals, competed for rebounds on his way to 6 boards, and continued to shoot lights out from the floor with 11 points on only 7 shots. Pendo’s emergence as a scorer could not have come at a better time, and his ability to shoot from the outside, score driving to the basket or get garbage baskets inside provides the type of versatility the Zags need without a true inside scoring presence.

Pargo led the way scoring for the starting unit with 15 points, most coming on his strong drives to the basket both in the half court and in transition. Jeremy’s strength, jumping ability, and toughness allow him to get into the paint and score over bigger defenders or draw the foul. Pargo also provided a great finish to the game Monday with an unbelievable two handed 360 dunk which has to rank among the most impressive dunks by a Zag. Just as he did Saturday, Kuso provided exactly what the team needs of him on Monday night, as he pulled down a team high 8 rebounds and scored 9 points, a perfect stat line for a big man with Kuso’s style game.

Monday’s win was huge for Gonzaga, but there are still many things the team can improve upon. Defensively Gonzaga allowed the Toreros to shoot too high of a percentage from the field, especially DeRogatis who they lost numerous times in the games first 23 minutes in which he had all 22 of his points. Fortunately the Zags stepped up the defense against San Diego’s hot shooting guard and held him scoreless down the stretch or the outcome could have come out in the Toreros’ favor. Offensively the Zags turned the ball over too many times again, with 15 turnovers against a fairly low pressure defensive team and with at least four guards on the floor most of the night. The Zags shoot so well as a team that turnovers are really costly because they take points off the board and with the small lineups the Bulldogs are playing they should be able to keep their turnovers down and thus increase their scoring. Part of the reason the Zags continue to struggle with turnovers though is because their execution in the half court is not always crisp and that was the case for stretches of the game Monday. When the team does not execute well in the half court and get good team shots it forces players to go one-on-one to score, and while the Zags have plenty of the players that do this well, that style of play generally leads to high turnover counts. Three point shooting was the other downside of the Zags game Monday, they shot great from inside the arc and the free throw, but the outside shooting is not a huge concern because it was just an off-night as the Zags usually are very effective from the three point line because almost every player that hits the floor is adept and comfortable taking the outside shot.

Gonzaga’s effort this weekend was remarkable, as they picked up the road sweep for a conference championship despite having three major contributors limited due to injury and illness. It is this type of effort which separates great championship level programs from the pack, because championships are won on the road and late in February when all teams are dealing with injury problems; however it is the team’s that are able to find a way to battle through the adversity that are awarded with league championships. This year’s team has had its share of struggles and adversity, but this weekend they played with great energy and composure, and picked up the road victories necessary to win the WCC once again.

Winning the regular season league title is always special because it takes consistently high level performance over a two month stretch of time. The regular season league title is source of pride for the Bulldog program because of the sustained greatness it represents, and this year’s title should hold even more meaning because the team was counted out and they had to fight from behind on the road in the final weekend in order to win the crown. Zag fans should be proud of how the team has played this year, but especially the past three weeks, and recognize the team for accomplishing their primary goal of winning the WCC regular season championship.

Now that the Zags have accomplished their first goal of capturing the league championship they must win back-to-back games next Sunday and Monday to assure themselves of an NCAA Tournament berth as the WCC tournament champions. Gonzaga has been a fixture in the NCAA tournament for the past 8 years, and this year’s team has put themselves in position to go to the tournament once again, but they must win the WCC tournament to stay off the bubble and avoid putting their fate in the hands of the selection committee who probably currently has the Zags on the outside looking in. Regardless of next weekend’s outcome this Bulldogs team has played through adversity all season long and responded with some impressive non-conference wins and most importantly the league championship.