SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Southern University’s men’s basketball team just missed making history. West Region top seed Gonzaga scored the game’s final five points and held off an upset bid by the 16th-seeded Jaguars, 64-58, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday afternoon.The Jaguars trailed 59-58 with 2:28 left to play after Southern’s Derick Beltran, who scored 21 points, made two free throws. But Gonzaga, the nation’s top ranked team, held the Jaguars scoreless the rest of the way as Southern went 0-for-4 from the field in the final 1:23 of the game.\
Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos hit a 3-pointer with 1:57 to play for a 62-58 lead and added two free throws with 14 seconds left to seal the victory.
“(Southern Coach) Roman Banks has done an unbelievable job,’’ Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said. “They had bigs that could match our bigs. We haven’t seen that before.’’
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Gonzaga survives with narrow win over Southern
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Gonzaga barely avoided becoming the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament to lose to a 16 seed, using everything it had to scrape past Southern University, 64-58, in the Zags' first game of the tournament.
It was a mighty struggle for Gonzaga, which has its first No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Zags had a 34-31 halftime lead, then gained control of the game behind All-America center Kelly Olynyk. But after Southern fought back from a double-digit deficit to tie the game, it was the Gonzaga guards, Gary Bell Jr. and Kevin Pangos, who ultimately made the difference.
Bell broke a 56-all tie with a clutch three-pointer with 3:18 left, and Pangos scored the Zags' last five points, and they held Southern to two points in the last three minutes-plus.
Olynyk scored 21 points to lead Gonzaga and Pangos scored 16.
Gonzaga appeared to be safe with a 52-41 lead, but the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament winners were resilient. They roared back with a 13-2 run and tied the game on two free throws by forward Brandon Moore.
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