Legendary golfer Bobby Jones once said: “There’s golf. And there’s tournament golf.”
Gonzaga showed Thursday night that college basketball can have a similar axiom. There’s experience. And then there’s tournament experience.
Eighteenth-ranked St. John’s trotted out four senior starters for the second-round NCAA Tournament game at the Pepsi Center, an uncommonly high number these days for a team in one of the six power conferences. But Gonzaga, although younger, had all the NCAA Tournament experience.
It showed.
Getting 24 points from junior guard Marquise Carter, the 11th-seeded Bulldogs (25-9) seemed to hit big shots from everywhere. That enabled Gonzaga to claim an easy 86-71 upset victory over the Southeast Region’s No. 6 seed to become the second slayer of a beast from the Big East in Denver.
Earlier, 13th-seeded Morehead State sent No. 4 seed Louisville packing.
“We played great,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “These guys took the game plan and went out and executed it. We did a great job attacking their zone, attacking their pace. Unbelievable.”
A crowd of 19,216 watched Gonzaga win its 10th consecutive game. The Bulldogs advance to face third-seeded Brigham Young in a 5:45 p.m. third-round game Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
Gonzaga is making its 13th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and its 14th overall. St. John’s (21-12) has now been to 27 of these, but this is the first since 2002. Every player on the Red Storm roster was new to this.
Gonzaga took a 43-32 lead into halftime and then came out firing. Making the extra pass to get the Red Storm’s matchup zone leaning the wrong way, Gonzaga hit four of its first five shots after the break, three from 3-point range.
“We were really taking shots on our terms,” Gonzaga guard Steven Gray said.
After seven years of watching Gonzaga as basketball analyst for ESPN and ABC, first-year St. John’s coach Steve Lavin had been concerned about Gonzaga’s length. His fears were warranted. The Bulldogs controlled the boards for a 43-20 rebounding advantage.
“Their size was able to dominate on the rim,” Lavin said. “And I thought they were the most skilled offensive team we’ve seen all year. Their execution was as good as we’ve seen. They’re a handful.”
Almost five minutes had elapsed before Gonzaga took its first lead, 15-14, on a 3-pointer by 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Elias Harris from the right wing. The Zags, er, Bulldogs were just getting started.
Beating St. John’s at its own game with transition baskets off open-floor turnovers, Gonzaga reeled off a 12-0 run that included a determined three-point play the old-fashioned way when Bulldogs forward Harris was fouled while darting through the paint but somehow managed to push the ball headed toward the basket as he was falling.
It went in.
“I think we match up real good with (BYU),” Carter said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
