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Friday, Mar. 16 12:25pm ET
Calvary's short layup does it for Gonzaga

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Gonzaga is causing trouble for the big guys again.

Fri, March 16
The Cinderella of two years ago is no longer a Cinderella.

The Zags can flat out play. With Dan Dickau in the lineup Gonzaga was 19-2. He was sensational today with 29 points and he distributed the rock brilliantly.

Casey Calvary scored the winning bucket and had a double-double on the day. He's an underrated star in America.

Virginia got a great effort out of Roger Mason who knocked down 30. It wasn't enough as the ACC went down for the second time on Friday.

More ...

Casey Calvary put back a blocked shot with 9.2 seconds left to give the 12th-seeded Zags an 86-85 win over Virginia in the opening round of the South Regional on Friday.

After barely missing the Final Four in 1999 and reaching the regional semifinals last year, Gonzaga (25-6) doesn't sneak up on anybody. In the past two years, they knocked out second-seeded teams in the second round.

"We weren't crazy about playing them," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "They are much better than a 12 seed. It's not the committee's fault. They hadn't seen Gonzaga. These guys are tremendous."

Dan Dickau, a junior point guard who sat out last season after transferring from Washington, scored 29 points and took the shot that Calvary grabbed and put in for the winner.

Dickau scored 21 of his points in the first half and finished 9-of-19 from the field and 6-of-9 on 3-pointers.

"Dickau was hitting shots. Loose balls, they'd go get them, he'd have them. Bang! Three! He'd be way out, shoot a scud, hit the rim, hit the backboard, go in. He was on fire," Gillen said.

Gonzaga was ahead by as many as 13 in the second half and looked in control heading down the stretch. But Virginia cut it to 82-80 on Roger Mason Jr.'s 3-pointer with 3:25 left.

Dan Dickau
Dan Dickau scored 21 of his 29 points in the first half for Gonzaga on Friday.

Mason hit another 3 two minutes later to give Virginia it's first lead, 85-84, with 1:28 left. Freshman J.C. Mathis, a 49 percent shooter from the foul line this season, was fouled with 21.4 seconds left but missed the free throw, giving Gonzaga another chance.

Adam Hall blocked Dickau's shot, but Calvary grabbed the rebound and put it in for the one-point edge.

"I wanted to get in the middle of the lane and get up a shot. I was either going to make it or I knew (Calvary) was going to pick up the scraps and put it in," Dickau said.

Mason then missed on a drive as time expired as players scrambled for the loose ball.

Calvary added 16 points and 15 rebounds for Gonzaga, Alex Hernandez 15 and Zach Gourde 12.

Mason had a career-high 30 for Virginia and Donald Hand had 14.

Trailing by 13, the Cavaliers had a 13-4 run capped by Keith Friel's third 3 in a row with 9:03 left that cut it to 70-66.

But Dickau hit a 3-pointer to put the Zags back up by seven. Virginia cut it to four twice but each time Gonzaga's defense held until the final minutes.

Travis Watson's basket with 3:25 left cut it to 82-80, and Calvary scored to push the lead back to four. But Gonzaga didn't score again until Calvary's final basket.

"I felt like we were just trying to always shore things up. Even on the last play, we were able to kind of shore things up and then dig out the board," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.

The Cavaliers just couldn't get their shots to go in the end.

"We had a chance to win with the free throws, we had a chance to win with the blocked shot, had a chance to win with Roger's shot. We had three chances to win the game," Gillen said.

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AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Pete Gillen says he wanted the ball in the hands of Roger Mason.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6

 Casey Calvary says Virigina's Roger Mason had the hot hand all game.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6


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