Well that was thrilling.   Gonzaga looked like they had the game well under control with 62-48 lead with about 12 minutes to play.   But then the Gamecocks came charging back.   The next five minutes watched South Carolina outscore the Bulldogs 19-3.  First, Duane Notice hit a three, then some free throws by Chris Silva, then a basket by PJ Dozier, then a big three by Sindarius Thornwell, and they were on a huge roll.

But Gonzaga didn’t panic.   Zach Collins hit a three pointer, and Przemek Karnowski made a monster dunk and another layup and the Zags were back up 5.  The last couple minutes were very exciting as South Carolina would miss a shot, but get an offfensive rebound, but then Gonzaga would hold on defense to cause another missed shot.   With Gonzaga holding a three point lead, South Carolina managed to stop Nigel Williams-Goss from scoring and somehow didn’t get called for a foul on the rebound – it was actually funny, they went to the replay to make sure it was off Gonzaga, and you could see the South Carolina player slap the Bulldog’s arm and hold him back as he tried to save the ball from going out.   But the replay clearly showed the ball was off Gonzaga – which is all you can use the replay for.   South Carolina brought the ball up the court, but struggled to get off a shot – then with the clock down to 3 seconds, Gonzaga intentionally fouled to make sure they couldn’t tie the game.

Thornwell hit the first free throw to make it a two point game, and intentionally missed the second free throw, and backup freshman forward Killian Tillie pulled down the rebound and got fouled.  And with everything on the line, the freshman – who before this moment had no shots and only one rebound – calmly hit both free throws to ice the game.

It was a great effort by South Carolina, but in the end, their effort to be the first team to come back from half time deficits four times in the tournament.   They simply didn’t have an answer for the drives from Niles Williams-Goss, who had 23 points and 6 assists, and the inside game from Gonzaga’s two seven footers as Karnowski had 13 points, and Zach Collins had 14 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks from coming off the bench.   And so the Zags hung on for a 77-73 victory and are our first semi-finals winner.

Now, the mid-major West Coast Conference champion will wait to see if they will be playing the major conference ACC champion North Carolina or the major conference Pac 12 co-champion Oregon.    Most of the year as Gonzaga has gone on their streak of being undefeated for the season, you would hear the comments about how the Zags wouldn’t be able to have that record if they were in a major conference.   Well, they now have knocked off Northwestern, West Virginia, Xavier and South Carolina.   And they will get to have the opportunity to make the biggest statement of all – by winning the National Championship.    Congratulations to the Gonzaga Bulldogs on their first Final Four victory in school history!!!!