Gonzaga rides frontcourt to win over Davidson

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — With a level of depth and offensive balance few teams in college basketball can match, third-ranked Gonzaga has shown the ability to beat teams in a variety of ways this season.

Dumping the ball inside to a skilled stable of post players may still be Gonzaga’s bread and butter and it was the preferred method of attack for the Bulldogs as they rolled to a 90-65 victory over Davidson in the fifth-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Setting a career high for the second time in as many days, Ryan Nembhard piled up 14 assists, picking Davidson apart with a steady diet of passes into Gonzaga’s big men, who accumulated a 58-24 advantage in paint points and helped the Bulldogs convert 60% of their shots inside the arc during the final game at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas.

Ben Gregg gave Gonzaga its fifth leading scorer this season, registering a career-high 24 points off the bench while converting 7-of-9 shots from the field and finishing 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Graham Ike had his first double-double of the season, shrugging off a slow start to finish with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Reserve forward Braden Huff scored 14 points, hauled down four rebounds and registered a career-high four assists.

“First of all, that’s a very difficult team to prepare for on short prep,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They do a lot of action on the defensive end that you just don’t see and also defensively, they kind of jammed a lot.

“Obviously, (Gregg) had two really active, forceful games down here and we knew going to ‘G’ and ‘B-Huff’ was going to be a good plan tonight. Guys did a great job executing the defensive game plan and the offensive plan, which you have to do against Davidson.”

Gonzaga led by double figures in all three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis — 10 points against West Virginia, 23 against Indiana and 28 against Davidson — but came away with a 2-1 record in its second appearance at the tournament after an 86-78 overtime loss to West Virginia and an 89-73 victory over Indiana on Thursday.

Davidson, at a size disadvantage against Gonzaga and overmatched in a variety of other ways, had six fewer hours to recover and prepare than its opponent on Friday after beating Providence in Thursday’s nightcap that ended just before 10 local time.

A longer look at Gonzaga may not have helped Davidson, which dealt with another group of formidable frontcourt players two nights earlier while facing Arizona and former Zags assistant Tommy Lloyd.

“They have the ability to just keep throwing it at you,” Davidson coach Matt McKillop said of GU. “That’s what we saw against Arizona and you have to work so hard to get back in transition, because they put pressure on you every single possession getting the ball up the court quickly. So you have to stop the ball, but at the same time you have to defend the post.”

The only adversity Gonzaga’s frontcourt encountered Friday night was an elbow Huff caught just below his right eye midway through the second half while vertically contesting a Davidson shot in the paint. Huff checked out of the game and spent time in Gonzaga’s locker room receiving stitches, but returned to the bench approximately 10 minutes later to a loud applause from Bulldog fans in attendance.

“Got stitched up,” Gregg said. “He’s looking tough, though.”

Gonzaga’s size advantage allowed the Bulldogs to control the paint and the glass as they came away with a 40-23 advantage in the rebounding column.

Davidson’s Reed Bailey finished with a game-high 19 points, but the Wildcats were limited to 24-of-56 (42%) shooting from the field and 6-of-24 (25%) from the free-throw line.

Nembhard broke the Battle 4 Atlantis record with 39 assists in three games — seven more than previous record-holder Zavier Simpson of Michigan — and finished with 22 more assists than West Virginia’s Javon Small, who finished No. 2 in that category this week.

Dusty Stromer added 10 points off Gonzaga’s bench, which totaled 48 points on 19-of-27 (70%) shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs will have a seven-day layoff before returning to the floor Saturday against eighth-ranked Kentucky at the Battle in Seattle. Tipoff at Climate Pledge Arena is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN2.

GONZAGA (7-1)

Ike 7-14 4-5 18, Ajayi 3-6 0-0 6, Battle 1-7 2-2 4, Hickman 3-7 0-0 8, Nembhard 2-3 1-1 6, Stromer 4-5 0-0 10, Gregg 8-10 7-7 24, Huff 7-11 0-0 14, Innocenti 0-1 0-0 0, Yeo 0-0 0-0 0, Few 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-64 14-15 90.

DAVIDSON (5-2)

Bailey 6-13 6-8 19, Durkin 3-10 1-2 7, Logan 1-1 0-1 2, Kochera 2-7 3-4 8, Loughnane 1-4 0-0 2, Blums 5-10 0-0 11, Laput 3-6 1-1 8, Adam 2-3 0-0 5, Hurlburt 1-1 0-0 3, Ghedini 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 11-16 65.

Halftime — Gonzaga 42-31. 3-Point Goals — Gonzaga 6-16 (Stromer 2-2, Hickman 2-4, Nembhard 1-1, Gregg 1-2, Innocenti 0-1, Ajayi 0-2, Battle 0-4), Davidson 6-24 (Adam 1-1, Hurlburt 1-1, Bailey 1-2, Kochera 1-3, Laput 1-3, Blums 1-5, Ghedini 0-1, Loughnane 0-2, Durkin 0-6). Rebounds — Gonzaga 38 (Ike 10), Davidson 19 (Bailey 5). Assists — Gonzaga 24 (Nembhard 14), Davidson 17 (Kochera 4). Total Fouls — Gonzaga 16, Davidson 16. A — 993 (500).