In Biggest Weekend, Zags Don't Bring a Game

PAGE C2 G SUNDAY G MARCH 24, 2013 THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW NCAA TOURNAMENT Wichita St. 76, Gonzaga 70 DAN PELLE [email protected] Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos goes low on the block to battle Wichita State’s Ron Baker for a rebound in the second half. Pangos didn’t get the rebound. He scored 19 points. Long-distance toll Flurry of Shocker 3-pointers costs Bulldogs deep tournament run By Jim Meehan [email protected], (208) 765-7131 14-28 Wichita State’s 3-point shots SALT LAKE CITY – Gonzaga made and attempted during the had been at its best in crunch time Shockers’ victory in Salt Lake all season. The Bulldogs had been City. Ron Baker and Cleanthony outstanding defensively over the Early combined to hit 8 of 13 last half of the season, earning a attempts from distance as the label as the best defensive club in team made a season high 14 3s. Gonzaga’s 15-year run of national prominence. But a season with so many 13 milestones and so much post-sea- Wichita State’s largest lead of son promise came to a screeching the game, which came with 7 halt Saturday when ninth-seeded minutes left in the first half and Wichita State buried a string of 3- the Shockers leading 26-13. pointers and the top-ranked and top-seeded Zags didn’t have a re- sponse in the closing minutes. 6:28 The Shockers did just that, ending Gonzaga’s season with a Time remaining in the second 76-70 victory in front of 16,060 at half when Gonzaga grabbed EnergySolutions Arena, leaving its largest lead of the game the Zags stunned and dismissed at 58-51. Wichita State countered from the NCAA tournament for with a 11-3 run over the next 2:58. the fourth straight season in the round of 32. 5 “I lost it a little bit, just the in- DAN PELLE [email protected] stant reaction and realizing this Bulldogs Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk and Mike Hart walk off court as Cleanthony Early celebrates. Times the No. 9 seed has was the finish,” said senior Mike reached the Sweet 16 since the Hart, who exited with six points those shooters. I don’t know NCAA tournament field and 14 rebounds in perhaps the Web extra: For a large-format photo gallery from why,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few expanded to 64 teams in 1985. finest performance of his career. GU’s defeat, visit spokesman.com/picture-stories said. “We were over helping a lit- “That’s the brutality of the NCAA tle and we got a little casual on tournament, how great it can be The Shockers (28-8), who It was all Wichita State from (Cleanthony) Early a couple 35.6 and how quickly it can all end.” move into the Sweet 16 to face the there. The Shockers scored on times. The ones by (Ron) Baker Shooting percentage for The swing of momentum on winner of today’s La Salle-Missis- eight consecutive possessions – hurt us.” Gonzaga, which went 21 of 59 the court was equally as swift. sippi game, started dropping 3- five 3-pointers, a drive into the Early knocked down a 3 and from the field (including 8 of 23 Gonzaga (32-3) dug out of a 13- pointers, but Gonzaga held them lane, a midrange jumper and a Baker, a thorn in GU’s side all from behind the 3-point arc). point first-half hole – the largest it off initially. Kevin Pangos, after a pair of free throws – spanning game, followed with another. had faced this season – with a 12-0 slow start, made consecutive 3s nearly 7 minutes. Carl Hall’s jumper gave Wichita run early in the second half that and the Zags led 58-51 with 6:25 “Down the stretch it was more 26 See GONZAGA, C15 gave the Bulldogs a 49-41 lead. left. about, we just didn’t get out on Points for Gonzaga junior big man Kelly Olynyk, who made 8 of 22 field-goal attempts and 10 Year No. 1 seed Opponent Down goes AP No. 1 … of 14 at the free-throw line. 2013 Gonzaga Wichita State Since the NCAA men’s basketball tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 five teams ranked No. 1 by the Associated 2010 Kansas Northern Iowa 16,060 Press sports writers have lost in the round of 32 after 2004 Stanford Alabama Gonzaga’s 76-70 defeat at the hands of Wichita State on 1994 North Carolina Boston College Announced attendance at Salt Saturday night in Salt Lake City. No top-ranked team Lake City’s EnergySolutions has lost in the Round of 64. 1990 Oklahoma North Carolina Arena for Saturday night’s third-round matchup. In biggest weekend, Zags don’t bring A game ALT LAKE CITY – So JOHN Gobsmacked by a ridiculous Nation and anyone who thinks of either was life as No. 1 as much BLANCHETTE 3-point show by Wichita State as a handicapping tool. Sfun as everyone thought and losers of a 76-70 crusher Problem is, everything in college it was going to be? in the round of 32 of the basketball must be re-earned in March. Maybe this is the wrong day NCAA Basketball And the Bulldogs simply didn’t. to ask. Tournament, the Bulldogs will They turned up here at The Great Gonzaga Proving spend the next few days EnergySolutions Arena with a B game, is over. The backlashers’ snark fidgeting under an unwieldy and maybe then only if you’re grading and outrage has been replaced yoke: on a curve. They were fortunate to with smug glee. The Bulldog G Being “the greatest team muster their usual end-of-game People will fumble about to raise the in the history of basketball at our steeliness to put away 16th-seeded ransom to buy back their hijacked hope. school,” as pronounced by coach Mark Southern the other night. Usually that only takes until the start Few, whose vote counts the most. And against one of those junkyard dog of another season. G Being the least fulfilled of them all outfits that are inevitably more vicious This funk may not be undone so at the final horn. than pedigreed opponents, the Zags quickly. Such is the price of being No. 1, both played the most dangerous game. They Nor, in all likelihood, will the impact in the polls and on the seed line – and absolutely failed to match Wichita’s COLIN MULVANY [email protected] this is bound to have on future NCAA both well-earned, regardless of the Elias Harris couldn’t create any brackets. taunts coming from Schadenfreude See BLANCHETTE, C15 space to operate in Salt Lake City. .

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