Gonzaga rolling in semis
The top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs are playing their first game of the West Coast Conference tournament at the Orleans Arena, but the league’s premiere team is showing no signs of rust or nerves.
Gonzaga leads No. 5 Loyola Marymount 41-25 at halftime.
Steven Gray scored 14 points on 5 of 7 shooting and made the only 3-pointer of the half.
Mangisto Arop has four points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs, who made 10 of their first 12 field goals and finished the half making nearly 60 percent of their shots.
Vernon Teel has seven points for Loyola Marymount. Drew Viney added six points and three steals.
The Lions are just 8-for-25 from the field.
Scary moment
Gonzaga’s Steven Gray had to leave the game for a few minutes in the first half to be worked on by the medical staff.
Loyola Marymount’s Drew Viney pump-faked a 3-point shot and Gray jumped high to block what he thought was going to be a shot attempt.
Viney then tried to drive left and took out Gray’s legs.
Gray fell hard to the floor and had his right shoulder tended to, but he did return to the game.
Robert Sacre and Matt Bouldin also came out of the game early for the Bulldogs, but for a different reason. Both players had two fouls very early in the contest, but both came back in and played without picking up a third. Gray also picked up two fouls in the half for Gonzaga, as did Loyola Marymount center Ashley Hamilton.
Ghost Town
Not to give any advice to any criminals out there, but if you ever wanted to rob a house in Spokane, Wash., today’s probably the day.
At least 80 percent of the city has to be inside the Orleans Arena right now.
Today is the first day there has been a raucous atmosphere at the Orleans Arena, mostly because it is the first day Gonzaga is in action and its fans gobbled up a majority of the tickets.
There can’t be a whole of activity going on in Spokane tonight.