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It took Derek Raivio 13 seconds to pop his first trey and thereby set the tone for the entire Gonzaga-Washington game. D-Rav would go on to score 21 points (5-6 treys), dish 8 assists, steal four balls and yield no turnovers. In short, it was a performance worthy of any recent Gonzaga point.
The Zags would consistently lead throughout the game, by as many as 10 points, except for a few seconds early in the 2nd-half when UW went up by a point. After a couple ties, Adam Morrison, Ronny Turiaf and Sean Mallon helped D-Rav put this contest to bed for another 12 months, 99-87.
Morrison, fueled by a no-call, poured in 26 points and played solid defense, while Turiaf played perhaps his smartest game as a Zag in getting 23 points, 13 boards and forced nothing, letting the game come to him and passing out of double- and triple-teams. Mallon, forever the silent thief in the night, accumulated 16 points, including a clutch put-back and four free-throws in the waning minutes.
Pierre-Marie Altidor-Cespedes (P-MAC) had an outstanding game in his first start and proceeded to hold Nate Robinson to no shot attempts until almost nine minutes into the game, and most importantly, a mere two shots in the final minutes. The fleet-footed French-Canadian provided energy and superb poise beyond his freshman status.
This 12-point win marks the seventh straight victory for Gonzaga over Washington, four over ex-coach Bob Bender and now three over Lorenzo Romar. It also gives Gonzaga a 8-7 lead in the series since Gonzaga turned Division 1 in 1959.
Gonzaga's next game is in Key Arena, December 4, at 1:00pm against UMass in the Battle in Seattle.
The night before the men's game, Shannon Mathews became the tenth player in Gonzaga women's history to surpass 1000 points. It happened in a game against Eastern Washington that saw the two teams tied at halftime, then the ladies outscored the Eagles by 22 points to win easily going away.
The Lady Zags travel to Tempe, AZ, to tackle a tough field of foes, starting with Nevada on Friday and a possible date with Arizona State the following day.