SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The inbounds pass was in mid-air and the ball was headed toward the opposite free-throw line, some 65 feet away from Gonzaga’s basket. The Bulldogs trailed by two points with just a few seconds left and junior point guard Jeremy Pargo couldn’t help but think the worst.
“At that point I was like, ‘Oh, we gave up one,’ ” Pargo said. “And then I heard a whistle.”
That whistle came after true freshman Steven Gray hustled back, deflected the pass away from Santa Clara’s Jonathan Gunderson and then went to the sideline to retrieve the loose ball. As Gray turned to prepare to take a desperation shot, he was fouled inexplicably by Broncos’ senior point guard Brody Angley with 0.3 seconds to play.
Gray, a 90 percent free-throw shooter this season, coolly hit both free throws to send it to overtime: “You practice those situations all the time, just messing around, ‘Oh, these two free throws are to send it into overtime,’ but this time if you miss, you don’t get a re-do.”
Fellow freshman Austin Daye took over from there, scoring 13 of his season-high 22 points in two extra sessions as the Bulldogs outlasted Santa Clara 87-82. The victory keeps Gonzaga (17-5, 6-0 WCC) atop the conference standings heading into Monday’s showdown with 21st-ranked Saint Mary’s (18-3, 5-1). Santa Clara dropped to 11-10, 3-3.
Just before the first overtime, Gray had a message for Daye. “I told him, ‘One freshman gets us here and the other takes us home,’” Gray said.
Daye’s 3-point play gave GU a 68-66 lead in the first overtime. The Zags led by four, but couldn’t hang on as Angley drove around Daye for a layup and then fed Andrew Zimmerman for a layup that tied it at 72 with 2 seconds remaining, forcing the second overtime.
Daye got the ball on the wing on Gonzaga’s first possession of the second overtime, stared at his defender and hit a 3-pointer as his defender stayed a couple feet away. Same thing happened on the next play. Daye then scored on a drive to the basket and GU led 80-74.
“When it’s at the end, I really want to take some of those shots,” Daye said. “Coach Few gave me some looks and I’m happy about that. And we got the win, which is the most important thing.”
Angley’s 3-pointer pulled Santa Clara within 82-80 with 24 seconds remaining, but Abdullahi Kuso, Matt Bouldin and Pargo made five of six free throws to seal the win.
“We kind of stole one from the jaws of defeat in regulation, but then we kind of had it won in the first overtime and didn’t finish it off,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This has turned out to be a pretty resilient group. Nobody can put us away.”
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