Stacy Davis, Alec Wintering and the #WCCHoops Slate

Compiled by Curran McCauley
The West Coast Conference was featured prominently on national television last night, as ESPN2 hosted the 8:00 pm affair between Gonzaga and Santa Clara in a packed Leavy Center in Silicon Valley. Despite trailing at the half, Gonzaga was able to prevail easily. BYU struggled to find its groove against Pepperdine, as the Waves swept the season series from the Cougars. Elsewhere, Loyola Marymount won back-to-back contests and Portland took a road victory from San Francisco thanks to the heroics of Kevin Bailey and Alec Wintering. Here is a deeper look at the entire WCC slate.

Loyola Marymount 70 San Diego 61
The Lions have back-to-back wins for the first time this season and have now won three of their last four contests. LMU shot a season best 54.5 percent from the field while Marin Mornar recorded a career-high point total for the second straight game. Evan Payne scored 19 points for LMU while Johnny Dee of USD led all scorers with 29 points. USD made it interesting, trailing by just two with 1:29 left in regulation before Mornar delivered a three-point play to put the game out of reach.

Portland 69 San Francisco 57
Portland used 20 points each from Kevin Bailey and Alec Wintering to sink the Dons. Portland started the game on a 10-0 run and led 20-7 midway through the first half, but San Francisco stormed back to take a 36-33 halftime lead. Thomas van der Mars had 13 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Pilots, bringing the senior to just one block away of the school career record of 103.

Pepperdine 80 BYU 74
Behind a great performance from Stacy Davis, the Waves kept on rolling, knocking off BYU for the second time this season. Davis went for 22 points and seven rebounds, while adding two steals and three blocks and Lamond Murray Jr contributed 18 points as BYU continues to struggle to find consistency in the crowded WCC picture.

Gonzaga 77 Santa Clara 63
The Bulldogs pulled away from the Broncos late in Santa Clara. In the nationally televised primetime contest, Santa Clara started hot and took the lead in the halftime break, just the second time that Gonzaga has trailed at halftime this season. Kyle Wiltjer had 22 points to lead the Zags while Byron Wesley scored 17 points. The Broncos were led by Jared Brownridge, who had 25 points. Santa Clara hasn’t beat a ranked opponent since November 18, 2004 when they took down No. 4 and eventual national champion North Carolina at the Arena in Oakland. (This author happened to be in attendance that night as an eighth grader!)

They Said It
“We had 10 turnovers in the first half. That’s unlike us. We knew once we started taking care of the ball and make them take tough shots, we’d be fine.” – Gonzaga’s Byron Wesley