Gonzaga comes up again in clutch time, beating BYU 75-74 on game-winning 3 from Julian Strawther

PROVO, Utah – Chalk up another one for the clutch-time Zags.

After watching Rasir Bolton and Nolan Hickman hit crucial shots in the waning moments of games last week in the Bay Area, junior wing Julian Strawther decided it was his turn on Thursday against BYU.

Strawther, who’d made just 2 of 10 shots prior, made two key 3-pointers inside the final 5 minutes at the Marriott Center and connected on a deep winner to help the eighth-ranked Zags overcome a late double-digit deficit and win 75-74 in front of 18,987 fans .

The Bulldogs (15-3, 4-0) won their final game at the Marriott Center as a West Coast Conference rival with BYU (13-7, 3-2), which is moving on to the Big 12 Conference next season.

Hickman rescued Gonzaga with a late go-ahead 3-pointer Saturday at Santa Clara, and Bolton made a decisive putback inside the final 10 seconds of the Zags’ game at San Francisco two days earlier. There were just 9 seconds on the clock when Strawther rose up to deliver Thursday’s winner.

A strong defensive stance from Anton Watson prevented BYU’s Spencer Johnson from getting a quality look on the game’s final possession, allowing the Zags to run their win streak to 10 games.

“I guess that’s the glory of having all these tough shot-makers,” Strawther said. “Every time you need a big shot, a big 3, and then somebody steps up and knocks it down. We don’t like to be in this situation all the time and needing a big shot, but I’m glad they keep going in.”

Strawther improvised on Gonzaga’s final possession.

As Strawther pulled down a rebound on a missed free throw with 14 seconds remaining, the junior saw Gonzaga teammates part to either side of the court. With the ball in hand, Strawther raced downcourt and pulled up from four feet behind the arc once he caught his defender backpedaling.

“Originally, we were supposed to go in a certain set and Nolan’s our point guard, but (the) ball came off on the free throw. We were expecting a make, so I grabbed the rebound and everybody ran the wings, so I had no choice but to bring it down myself,” Strawther said. “(The defender) just kept going under, kept backing up further and further so I was like, ‘Well, I work on this shot every day. This is all I work on, so I might as well pull it.’ ”

On the other end, Watson picked up Johnson on a defensive switch and poked the ball out of the BYU guard’s hand. Johnson recovered, but was unable to get a clean shot off with the Gonzaga forward draped all over him. Watson got a piece of Johnson’s shot as the final buzzer sounded.

“I just feel like that’s what I do, is get stops,” Watson said. “I saw the switch coming before and I switched onto him and I thought he was about to pull it … he started dribbling and I was like, “Yeah, that’s where you messed up.’ So yeah, I had to get to that stop and I knew that was going to be for game.”

As Gonzaga players piled onto the floor in celebration, BYU players crumpled to the floor in disappointment.

The Cougars took a 68-58 lead on Fousseyni Traore’s layup with 5:03 remaining, but clutch shots down the stretch allowed the Bulldogs to claw back.

Strawther hit his first 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to make it 68-61, Hunter Sallis delivered a deep shot to make it 70-69 with 1:53 left, and Hickman made his first shot of the game to give the Zags a 73-72 lead with 1:01 to play.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he hasn’t been part of a three-game stretch like the one the Bulldogs have experienced over the past seven days. They trailed by as many as 12 points at USF and 14 points at Santa Clara before digging themselves into another double-digit hole at BYU.

“Not when we’ve had to dig them out from the jaws of defeat like that,” Few said. “But hey, this crew knows how to win and they’ve been in this program, so they don’t ever think they’re out. We were really good at our end-game stuff there. We trapped when we needed to trap, we fouled when we needed to foul, we took the shots we needed to take and that’s what you’re most proud of as a coach.”

Gonzaga’s frontcourt carried most of the weight in the first half. Drew Timme, Watson and Ben Gregg combined to score 47 points with 29 rebounds.

Timme led all scorers with 19 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and added 13 rebounds and four turnovers.

Watson had 14 points in the first half and finished with 18. The Gonzaga Prep product also had eight rebounds.

Gregg came off the bench to score 10 points with six rebounds and two steals.

Johnson scored 18 points for BYU, and Gideon George and Jaxon Robinson each had 17.

Johnson and Robinson combined to go 8 of 12 from 3, and the Cougars finished 13 of 25 from behind the arc.