Zags not resting on ranking

The tiny private school from Spokane, Wash., is trying to gain a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Winning the West Coast Conference tournament title Monday at Orleans Arena would bolster the case of Gonzaga, whose highest NCAA Tournament seed was No. 2 in 2004.

The Bulldogs begin their quest at 6 p.m. today against ninth-seeded upstart Loyola Marymount in the semifinals. The winner will face either defending tournament champion Saint Mary’s or San Diego on Monday.

Loyola Marymount, which came to Las Vegas having lost 14 straight, won its third game in three nights Friday, edging fourth-seeded Santa Clara, 60-58.

“It’s an honor to be thought of by the coaches and the writers of being worthy of the No. 1 team,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said this week. “This is a very grounded team that still has a lot of work to do. Being No. 1 isn’t going to score us any baskets or get us any stops.”

Gonzaga (29-2) didn’t win the WCC tournament last year, so from the players’ perspective, it’s about this weekend. The intrigue of Selection Sunday can wait.

“If we’re No. 1 for a week and we lose in the (WCC) tournament, no one’s going to remember it,” sophomore guard Gary Bell Jr. said. “We have to maintain it.”

Senior guard Mike Hart said: “We didn’t win this last year. That’s plenty of motivation. If that helps our seeding, great. But we’re hungry to get it back in our grasp.”

Kelly Olynyk, Gonzaga’s 7-foot junior forward who this week was named the WCC’s Player of the Year, said the Bulldogs aren’t discussing the NCAA Tournament just yet.

“We’ve got to get the (WCC) tournament title back,” he said. “That’s all guys are talking about. We want to go down to Vegas and accomplish our mission.

“We can’t relax and drop one in Vegas. It’s a big steppingstone heading into the NCAAs, so we can’t afford to slip up.”

Should the Bulldogs prevail Monday, they’ll be a team with 31 wins, a 14-game win streak, the No. 1 ranking and a solid body of work for the NCAA selection committee to consider.

And now that his team has been voted No. 1, Few and the Zags are embracing it.

“It’s great for the school. It’s great for the community,” he said. “It’s something pretty monumental.

“Our guys will be able to look back on it one day and be very proud of what they accomplished.”

■ Loyola Marymount 60, Santa Clara 58 — The Lions (11-22) continued their surprising surge, ousting the fourth-seeded Broncos (21-11) behind Anthony Ireland’s 23 points.

Ireland’s driving layup with 5.9 seconds left gave the Lions a 59-58 lead. Santa Clara had a chance to regain the lead when Brandon Clark was fouled with 4.2 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Ireland was fouled and made a free throw with two seconds remaining.

Ashley Hamilton scored 13 points and Nick Stover had 11 for Loyola Marymount, which outscored the Broncos 12-5 in the final 6:10.

■ San Diego 72, Brigham Young 69 — Johnny Dee scored 25 points to guide the sixth-seeded Toreros (16-17) past the third-seeded Cougars (21-11) and into the semifinals against second-seeded Saint Marys (26-5).

BYU trailed 35-28 after a listless first half, but rallied for a 60-59 lead with 3:03 to play. The comeback was led by Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws, who each finished with 20 points.

San Diego regained control, going back ahead 67-62 with 41.5 seconds remaining after a three-point play by Dee and two free throws by Chris Anderson, who had 16 points.

The Cougars couldn’t get the defensive stop they needed, and Dee made four free throws in the final 12.3 seconds to nail down the victory.

Poor shooting sealed BYU’s fate. The Cougars made 4 of 11 3-point attempts and 13 of 19 from the foul line. San Diego wasn’t much better, going 8-for-21 on 3-pointers and shooting 64 percent from the line, but the Toreros made enough plays down the stretch to keep themselves playing tonight.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.