Gonzaga routs Lewis-Clark State men in exhibition

Oct. 29—SPOKANE — Mark Few would usually zero in on things like field goal percentage, rebounding or turnovers. With NAIA Lewis-Clark State visiting for Wednesday’s exhibition, Gonzaga’s coach was focused on another statistical column when judging whether the team’s final preseason tune-up was ultimately a success.

No, not final score. Gonzaga was expected to win in runaway fashion and had no issue, cruising past LCSC 91-59 at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Few’s eyes shifted to another section of the final stat sheet: minutes played. Everybody on Gonzaga’s roster registered at least four, with only one player, point guard Javon Bennett, exceeding 20 during Wednesday’s exhibition rout.

Another positive? The Zags left the Kennel without any injury concerns and should have everyone who played Wednesday available for Monday’s 4:30 p.m. (TNT/HBO Max) showdown with Purdue at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Warriors had many positives themselves.

Fueled by seven straight points from Idaho transfer Titus Yearout, the Warriors went on an 8-0 run to close the deficit to 23-18 with 11 minutes, 11 seconds to play. But Gonzaga outscored its opponent 31-9 to close the frame and went into halftime with a 54-27 advantage.

Yearout, of Lapwai, led the Lewiston-based Warriors with 12 points, making 4-of-14 shots from the field and 2-of-6 from the 3-point line. Dylan Skaife, a Ferris High School product, scored five points on 2-of-7 from the field and 1-of-6 from the 3-point line.

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Lewiston graduate Royce Fisher, a freshman, and senior Trevor Manning each contributed seven points off the bench for LC State.

"I think the best thing is we were able to get everybody in and get them kind of substantial minutes," said Few, who wasn’t able to disperse playing time as liberally during a tightly contested exhibition loss at Arkansas on Saturday. "The other night, kind of the way it was going, you probably didn’t get as many guys in as you’d like, meaningful minutes. So getting everybody meaningful minutes tonight was probably the best thing."

Scoring balance might have been a close second.

Gonzaga’s leading scorers, Parker Jefferson and Izan Almansa, both finished with 12 points but nine players had at least six. Joining Jefferson and Almansa in the double-digit club were Braden Huff and Bennett, who had 11 points apiece, along with Massamba Diop, who overcame a slow start to add 10.

Even in a dominant preseason win, though, Few was able to poke holes and identify shortcomings. The Zags were improved but still below-average from the perimeter, making 9-of-27 (33%) four days after a dismal 6-of-28 (21.4%) showing at Arkansas.

They won the rebounding column, but Few felt the 41-36 disparity should’ve been more substantial given the height, size and athleticism advantage Gonzaga still had over its NAIA opponent at nearly every position on the floor — even when Few’s reserves were in the game.

"Rebounding is something, we haven’t been good in the preseason here," Few said. "Didn’t exactly do a great job tonight. We battled at Arkansas against a really good, big team but it’s something we’ve always got to take to heart because it’s going to be a big key to our season."

Davis Fogle returned to Gonzaga’s starting lineup after taking precautionary measures and sitting out with a left leg injury against Arkansas. The sophomore wing played just 16 minutes, but was effective at both ends of the floor, scoring eight points on 4-of-9 shooting to go with two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Gonzaga made its first two 3-pointers out of the gates, from starting guards Xaivian Lee and Isiah Harwell, and put together an impressive three-possession stretch minutes later when Diop blocked an LCSC shot into the first row, Harwell collected an offensive rebound before going back up for a dunk and Fogle converted on a steal-and-score sequence to extend a 7-0 run.

The Zags lost control of the game for a brief stretch after that, making a hockey substitution that saw the five starters replaced by five newcomers: Bennett, Nathan De Sousa, Luca Foster, Almansa and Sam Funches.

Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.