SPOKANE — It’s not hard to see why Gonzaga rarely loses at home. McCarthey Athletic Center only seats 6,000 people but those 6,000 are right on top of you. And after Washington State went blow-for-blow with Gonzaga for 20 minutes, the Bulldogs delivered a massive right hook to the Cougars to open the second half and with the crowd in their ear, Wazzu couldn’t recover and fell to 13-5 with an 88-75 loss.
Gonzaga opened the second half on a 24-7 run and by the time the Cougars were able to stabilize, it was too late. The Kennel was alive and the shorthanded Cougars simply did not have the firepower to hang around. They made a late push to at least keep the game respectable, but the final 15 minutes were played with Wazzu down double-figures.
“We had it slip away from us earlier in that second half where we didn’t stay connected as much,” David Riley said after the game. “And I personally didn’t do a good enough job of having us ready for the fight. They got some 50-50 balls. They got a couple offensive rebounds, just some toughness plays that second half that hurt us …..