In last night’s South Region first round game between the No. 4 Gonzaga Bulldogs and the No. 13 Akron Zips, played at the Rose Garden in Portland, the Zips came out playing harder than the Zags at both ends of the floor. Akron led by as many as 5 three different times in the first half, by three at the intermission, and by a game-high 6 five minutes into the second half, at 49-43. But the slow-starting Zags finally got moving in the last fifteen minutes, and the Zips tired – mentally and physically – allowing the favored and physically superior Zags to outscore Akron 34-15 over the final fifteen minutes, and defeat the Zips 77-64.
From the underdog’s point of view, for twenty-five minutes the game was a thing of beauty. When “Humpty” Hitchens made a trey just over five minutes into the second half, giving the Zips that 49-43 lead, Coach Mark Few, his Zags and their fans had every reason to be worried. At that point in the game, Akron was just a make short of shooting 50 percent at 18-38, and led by virtue of their monstrous 8-13 from the arc (including a banked trey from a forty-five degree angle by Chris McKnight that suggested that destiny was on the side of the Zips). On the strength of going 3-4 from behind the arc, senior Nate Linhart led all scorers with 13 points, and on the strength of 2-3 from the arc, junior second guard Darryl Roberts had 11, along with 3 assists (Roberts would finish as Akron’s high scorer with 19). Coach Keith Dambrot’s team keeping the pace a moderate one, at that point in the game the Zips had committed just four turnovers.
But over the final 15 minutes, the game was taken over by Zags’ guard Matt Bouldin and forward Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga pressed and pushed tempo, and dominated the game. With much of his scoring from the perimeter, Heytvelt finished with 22 points on 7-12 shooting, 14 of those points in the second half. Bouldin finished with 12 on 3-8 shooting and five assists, with eight of those points and four of those assists in the second half. And while still not awful, Akron had as many turnovers in the final 15 minutes (four) as it had in the first 25 minutes.
It was like two different games, one for the first 25 minutes and one for the last 15. In the earlier portion of the game, Akron competed harder, guarded better and perhaps most important, hit its treys. And while Few had said before the game that “we’re going to have to match the intensity Akron plays with,” Gonzaga simply didn’t. The Zags looked slow and lethargic, poor defensively and more than a bit passive on the boards; they also committed a number of unforced turnovers. CBS analyst Dan Bonner saw it early and clearly, pointing out that the Zags were attempting to catch passes with just one hand, when they should have used two.
And when it turned around, there was nothing Keith Dambrot could do to stop it. To this writer, the game turned around for four reasons. First, as has been a fairly common occurrence all winter long, fouls began mounting on the Zips in the second half, taking away some of their aggressiveness defensively. Second, more than fouls, it appeared that fatigue began to set in, both physically and mentally; forty minutes against a bigger, stronger and more athletic team can do that to an outmanned and undersized group, particularly in the rarified atmosphere of tournament play. Third, the Zips reverted to form, both from the perimeter and on the boards. No offense intended, but Nate Linhart and Co. simply are not 60 percent shooters from the arc. And finally, all at once the Zags realized the perilous position they’d placed themselves in, and began competing much harder than they had earlier in the game.
For competing those last 15 minutes, No. 4 Gonzaga moves on in the South Region, facing No. 12 Western Kentucky on Saturday in Portland, who defeated No. 5 Illinois.
For Akron, respectfully with among the smallest and least heralded personnel in the tournament, I think Dambrot got about as much as humanly possible out of his team, and out of each member of the roster. They gave this edition of the Zags the scare of their collective lives, and perhaps a wakeup call they desperately needed. The Akron fans returning home from Portland this morning, and those waiting for them back in Akron, should be incredibly proud of this group, and Linhart and his teammates should be holding their heads high, proud of their huge and unexpected accomplishments.
