Freshman’s 3-pointer, senior’s two blocks help BYU upset Gonzaga
No. 25 Gonzaga has lost only twice on its home court in West Coast Conference play in the past five years with both losses coming against BYU.
The second loss occured Thursday night with the Cougars stealing a victory 69-68 thanks to a 3-pointer from freshman Nick Emery, his only field goal of the game, and two big blocks in the waning moments from senior forward Nate Austin.
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However, BYU also benefitted from a missed call by officials immediately following the first of those blocks from Austin. BYU guard Chase Fischer grabbed the ball along the baseline just after Austin had blocked Eric McClellan’s driving layup attempt. Fischer tossed the ball to Austin as he was falling out of bounds, but Austin failed to re-establish himself inbounds before catching the pass. The officials missed and BYU had the ball, and the lead with 224 seconds remaining.
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But it wasn’t as iif that sequence decided the game. Far from it. After Emery missed a free throw that would have given BYU a three-point lead, Gonzaga snagged the rebound and senior Kyle Wiltjer soon found himself at the foul line with a chance to tie the game. With eight seconds left, Wiltjer made the first free throw and missed the second.
Kyle Collinsworth leaped high to snatch the rebound for the Cougars but landed on his back and officials called him for traveling giving Gonzaga new life. But coach Mark Few’s players couldn’t overcome excellent defense from BYU and get off a quality shot. Wiltjer’s weak driving one hander was swatted away by Austin in the final second.
Yet, still it wasn’t over.
Officials never clearly indicated a foul had been called. Instead they went to the monitor and eventually ruled Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins pushed Austin. They put Austin at the free throw line with .9 seconds left. He missed the attempt and Gonzaga’s desperation heave came nowhere near the basket.
The victory is a significant one for BYU, but ultimately might not be that much help to the Cougars when it comes time to evaluate NCAA tournament resumes. Gonzaga will likely fall out of the top-25 now and hasn’t had the kind of season many expected when it started the year ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll.
The Zags just haven’t been able to overcome the loss of big man Przemek Karnowski to injury early in the season and inconsistent guard play.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
