No. 7 Gonzaga's Offensive Prowess Too Much for Southern Miss

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- The No. 7 Gonzaga Bulldogs shot 58 percent, as well as hitting 13 three-pointers, en route to a 94-69 win over Southern Miss in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday night.

"You certainly have to give credit to Coach Mark Few and Gonzaga," head coach Jay Ladner said. "They are a great basketball team. As I said prior to tonight, this is a great opportunity for our young guys to experience what big-time college basketball is supposed to look like. Gonzaga is well-coached and played hard, so there were no surprises there."

The game was tied at 18 at the 12:40 mark before the Zags went on a 13-0 run. Southern Miss kept its composure to limit it to 44-31 with 2:18 to play, but Gonzaga again flexed its power with a 9-1 run to close out the half, leading 53-32.

The Golden Eagles (2-4) did find rhythm within its young core. Sophomore Gabe Watson made three consecutive shots early in the second half (eight points), finishing with 10. It was the Artur Konontsuk Show early on, as the freshman from Estonia led all scorers with 15 in the first half. Junior LaDavius Draine also scored 14 of his 19 points in the second, which tied a game-high for the final period only.

"In a small way, LaDavius, who's really struggled the entire year, it was great to see him get going," Ladner said. "He's a great kid who works hard. It was good to see him regain his confidence a little bit, and that will help us going forward."

The Zags (7-0) were led by Corey Kispert and his 28 points (7-for-8 from long range). Joel Ajayi also had 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Southern Miss will play the loser of No. 10 Oregon/No.13 Seton Hall on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

NOTABLE
-This was the first all-time meeting between the schools.
-Southern Miss went 11-for-22 from deep. Its previous season-high was six versus South Alabama and William Carey, and its best percentage was 36.4 against Delta State in the opener.
-LaDavius Draine finished with a season-high 19 points (including 5-for-9 on threes). It was the fourth time he's made five treys, each coming last year against C-USA foes (Marshall, UTEP, WKU).
-Artur Konontsuk's 19 points marked a career-high and served as his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season.
-Gabe Watson's 10 points marked his eighth-career double-digit scoring game.
-Tyler Stevenson, who came in as a walk-on as a freshman last season, earned his first collegiate start and had four points in the early going.
-Jay Malone had a career-high three steals, as well as posting five assists (third-such occurrence this year).
-Southern Miss' starting five featured three from Mississippi (Stevenson, Watson, Malone) and two from Europe (Jacdonmi, Konontsuk).
-Entering this season, that starting lineup had a combined four starts at the Division I level (Jacdonmi had all four).

No. 7 Gonzaga's Offensive Prowess Too Much for Southern Miss

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Team Stats

Artur Konontsuk

LaDavius Draine

Gabe Watson

Boban Jacdonmi

Players Mentioned

LaDavius Draine

Artur Konontsuk

Jay Malone

Tyler Stevenson

Gabe Watson