SPOKANE — On a night when the West Coast Conference made Gonzaga junior forward Kelly Olynyk its Player of the Month for December, Olynyk went out and turned in a convincing impersonation of the WCC Player of the Year.
Olynyk, coming off a career-high 33-point performance Saturday at Santa Clara, poured in 31 points Thursday night to carry ninth-ranked Gonzaga past Saint Mary’s, 83-78, at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
“He’s improved more than anyone in college basketball,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said.
“Some stuff opened up inside, and (guard) David Stockton found me,” Olynyk said.
Olynyk, a former Canadian national team player from Kamloops, B.C., continues to evolve into one of the top big men in college basketball. NBA scouts have taken notice, and Olynyk has not ruled out bypassing his senior year at Gonzaga to turn pro next season.
Olynyk’s inside dominance – he sank 8 of 10 shots in the first half and 11 of 19 in the game – helped Gonzaga (16-1 overall, 3-0 WCC) dominate their fierce rivals much of the way. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-2 lead and closed the first half with an 8-0 run to lead 46-28.
The Gaels (12-4, 1-1) roared back in the second half, when guard Stephen Holt scored 15 of his 23 points.
“He stepped up,” Bennett said of Holt.
Saint Mary’s cut its deficit to three points on three occasions in the final 6 minutes, 12 seconds, but Kevin Pangos delivered big baskets down the stretch in Gonzaga’s seventh straight win.
“Kevin was huge,” Olynyk said.
“He showed some leadership,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.
The Bulldogs, one of the national leaders in field-goal-shooting percentage, sank 58.3 of their shots in the first half and 54.2 percent for the game. The Gaels shot 31 percent in the first half and 45.9 percent overall before Gonzaga’s usual sellout crowd of 6,000.
“We played fantastic in the first half, and they played fantastic in the second half,” Few said. “It turned into a heck of a ballgame.”
Pangos finished with 22 points, and Elias Harris added 13. Saint Mary’s star Matthew Dellavedova scored 14 points, but he shot just 4-for-15 from the field, partly because of the tenacious defense of former Kentridge High School standout Gary Bell Jr.
“He’s a great defensive player,” Olynyk said. “Strong, quick. He took Dellavedova out of his game.”
FASTBREAKS
Harris made the Midseason Top 25 List for the John R. Wooden Award as player of the year. Dellavedova, one of 50 preseason candidates, did not make the Midseason List that was announced earlier Thursday. … Also on Thursday, Pangos was named one of 20 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented annually to the nation’s best point guard. … One look at Olynyk’s December stats revealed why he was named the conference player of the month. Olynyk averaged 18.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in seven games. He shot 70.8 percent from the field and 85.2 percent from the free-throw line.
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