Friday's Shootaround: Gonzaga, Butler, and Cal all score huge wins, Louisville with a terrible loss

Gonzaga 80, St. Mary's 61: Barring an upset in their last five games, Gonzaga won their 10th straight WCC regular season title last night by running St. Mary's out of the gym in the second half. With the score tied in the final seconds of the half, Matt Bouldin came down and buried a three to give the Zags the lead heading into the break.

In the second half, it was a different story. The Zags played staunch defense, holding St. Mary's to 29% shooting and center Omar Samhan to just seven points. For the game, Elias Harris finished with 19 points, Matt Bouldin added 18, and Robert Sacre went for 13 and 8 boards. The spark in the second half was a 16-3 run that opened up a 59-46 lead for the Zags.

As I said, Gonzaga did it with defense. They got off to a very poor start shooting the ball, but forced 17 turnovers, scored 22 points off those turnovers, and held the Gaels 20 points below their season average.

With the loss, St. Mary's drops to 19-4 on the season. But those four losses are to Vandy, USC (when USC was playing well), and twice to Gonzaga. Still, the Gaels may need to win the WCC tournament if they want a shot at an at-large bid.

Cal 93, Washington 81: Cal got 21 of Jerome Randle's 33 points in the first half and Jamal Boykin added 20 points and 11 boards as the Bears jumped out to a big first half lead and cruised to the win. Quincy Pondexter struggled all night, finishing with 18 points, the majority of which came late once the game was long decided. The win puts Cal in the driver's seat for a Pac-10 regular season title. They are a game up on the Arizona schools (and play both at home later in the season), a game and a half up on USC and UCLA, and now hold a two game lead on Washington.

St. John's 74, Louisville 55: Think these Rick Pitino rumors were weighing on the minds of the Cardinals last night? They got down 12-0 early in the game and were never really able to mount a comeback as the Johnnies simply out hustled Louisville. DJ Kennedy finished with 15 points, and Justin Burrell matched his season high with 14. The loss puts a serious crimp in Louisville's hope to get an at-large invite.

Seton Hall 90, Notre Dame 87: Notre Dame was no where near as close to the bubble as Louisville, but losing last night to Seton Hall may have all but ended their chances of dancing. Jeremy Hazell went for 35 points (on 16 shots) and hit a couple big shots down the stretch as Seton Hall avoided blowing a double digit lead. The big news, however, was that Luke Harangody left the game at the 8:42 mark after hyper extending his knee. Doesn't look serious, but you never know.

Butler 68, Youngstown State 57: The Bulldogs got 22 points and 17 boards from Gordon Hayward as they clinched their fourth straight Horizon League title.

Mississippi State 71, Ole Miss 63: The Bulldogs got 18 points form Ravern Johnson as they swept the season series from Ole Miss. The Rebels spent too much time on the perimeter jacking up threes, afraid to enter the paint where Jarvis Varnado was lurking. MSU moves into second place in the SEC West, a game behind Arkansas.

Other notable scores

• Michigan 71, Minnesota 63: The Wolverines all but sealed the Big Ten as getting, at most, five teams into the dance as DeShawn Sims scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half. Manny Harris added 20 as the Wolverines shot 7-14 from three.
• Stanford 60, Washington State 58: Jeremy Green scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half as the Cardinal came from 18 down to knock off Wazzu.
• Arizona 70, Oregon 57: The Wildcats got 20 points from Derrick Williams as they knocked off the Ducks and moved into second place in the Pac-10.
• Arizona State 56, Oregon State 46: Derek Glasser scored 16 points to lead the Sun Devils to the win.
  

Thursday's Best

• Joe Zeglinski of Hartford went for 29 points, 6 boards, and 6 assists, but the Hawks lost to UMBC.
• Ricky Harris had 29 points, 6 assists, and 5 boards, and Hova Sean Carter added 11 points and 19 boards as UMass beat Duquesne in OT.
• Alex Young went for 30 as IUPUI knocked off the Gentlemen of Centenary.
• Jeremy Hazell had 35 points as Seton Hall knocked off Notre Dame.
• Jerome Randle scored 21 of his 33 points in the first half as Cal beat Washington.