SEATTLE – Ramon Sessions practices last-second shots every game day, but never actually makes the shots. But when it counted, Sessions delivered.
The junior guard for No. 24 Nevada buried a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 1:20 to play to propel the Wolf Pack to an 82-74 victory over Gonzaga in front of 15,110 fans Saturday at KeyArena.
The game was played with an NCAA Tournament game intensity and was a rematch of a 2004 tourney game in which Nevada upset Gonzaga in the same arena. Saturday’s victory was the biggest of the season for the Wolf Pack, which improved to 12-1, while Gonzaga has now lost three in a row to fall to 9-5. The Bulldogs are 2-5 away from Spokane.
Nevada star Nick Fazekas said that while Saturday’s win was a big one, the Wolf Pack has had more important victories.
“It’s Gonzaga (but) it’s just another game,” said Fazekas, who had 24 points and nine rebounds but fouled out with 5:15 to play. “It was a high level win. But to win in March is a lot bigger deal than to win in December.”
Still, Saturday’s game was a rare chance for Nevada to show it can pull out a win without Fazekas on the floor. The 6-foot-11 senior, who came into the game averaging 20.7 points and 12.7 rebounds, had only fouled out one other time in his career. But he went to the bench for good after reaching in on a Jeremy Pargo drive with the game tied at 61. At that point, it looked like Gonzaga would take control. The Bulldogs scored six straight points to lead 67-61 with just under four minutes to go, but then Nevada showed it was more than a one-man team.
Backup center David Ellis scored his only basket of the day on a putback to spark a 14-0 Wolf Pack run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Sessions and Denis Ikovlev. Sessions scored seven points in the run and all 20 of his points in the second half but none bigger than his buzzer-beater. With the score tied at 67, Sessions curled off an Ikovlev screen and received an inbounds pass from under the hoop, leaning forward and sinking the shot to give the Wolf Pack its first lead in more than six minutes. Nevada never relinquished the advantage.
“I saw the clock was running down,” Sessions said. “Denis was able to give me a good screen and I just threw it up and it went in.”
Nevada coach Mark Fox, a former University of Washington assistant, said he doesn’t look at Sessions’ shot as a fluke.
“I’d call that shot one that a winner makes,” Fox said. “He’s competitive tough. Gonzaga’s a great team, we had to play very well to win. He’s a tough kid. I think that’s why the ball went it.”
Gonzaga coach Mark Few, though, said the shot was more of a lucky break and blamed his team’s inability to take care of the ball down the stretch more for the loss.
“That fluke three, sometimes that happens,” Few said. “I thought we played great defense and (they) wished one and it went in. That’s the way it goes.”
Gonzaga was seemingly in control early on as Nevada struggled to find an offensive rhythm working against the Bulldogs’ press. A 12-3 run by Gonzaga that was capped by five straight points by Josh Heytvelt gave the Bulldogs a 30-16 lead, but the Wolf Pack closed the half with an 11-0 run that included three-straight 3-pointers by Fazekas, Lyndale Burleson, Fazekas again, and a fastbreak layin by Fazekas that made it 32-29 Gonzaga advantage at the half.
The Wolf Pack took an eight-point lead with 8:46 to play on back-to-back Fazekas baskets, but a 17-3 run in which Pargo scored nine points, coupled with Fazekas fouling out, seemed to put Gonzaga in control.
“Any time the opposite team loses their best player, there’s a feeling that we have to get this done right now because they don’t have their inside presence or their big-time scorer,” said Pargo, who had a team-high 18 points.
“That’s such a solid, tough team,” Few said. “They have some moxie, they stick with their plan really well. They’ve won a lot, you can tell. … They didn’t cave in, they were able to make a play, whether it was a fluke or not.”
Derek Raivio had 15 points, Heytvelt scored 14, Sean Mallon scored 13 and Matt Bouldin scored 10 for Gonzaga. Former Garfield High star Marcelus Kemp had 21 points, including 18 in the second half, for Nevada, which now knows it can win without its big man on the floor.
“This team is more than me,” Fazekas said. “There’s five guys out there at a time. For me to foul out and these guys to win this high level of a game, that’s a big confidence booster for us.”
“This team is more than Fazekas,” Fox said. “We practice when Nick’s not in there. … They doubled down and did the job.”
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