Oh so close
Photos by LISA JAMES/Press Dolores Smith, center, joins friends Donald Kaiser, left, and Reba Buchan at the Post Falls Senior Center to cheer on Gonzaga in their first NCAA men’s basketball title game on Monday night. Smith has three grandchildren who graduated from Gonzaga University, and two who are currently attending.
Patrice Thompson-Rose, left, joins her friends and fellow Zag fans Christylee Comrie, center, with son Greyson Yates, 1, and Trish Comrie, at Crickets to cheer on Gonzaga Monday night. The Bulldogs fell to the Tar Heels 71-65 in the final seconds but completed their most successful season ever.
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
They were some of the most heart-wrenching 30 seconds Tim Kramer had ever endured.
Gonzaga was ever-so-close to winning its first NCAA men's basketball title in the final seconds on Monday night when Bulldog Nigel Williams-Goss had his shot blocked and North Carolina's Justin Jackson broke away for a championship-sealing dunk in a 71-65 nail-biter.
"Heartbreaking," said Kramer, who graduated from Gonzaga in 1996 and was among about 60 who watched the game at Taphouse Unchained in downtown Coeur d'Alene.
"But it was a great season."
Watch parties were held throughout Kootenai County as many attendees hoped to will Gonzaga to victory in the nerve-wracking final moments.
The Taphouse crowd went from roaring with under a minute to play to nearly silent when Jackson sealed it and thoughts of what-if started to sink in.
"We've always been believers, but this had been a long time coming," Kramer said. "If not this year, then when? This is the best Gonzaga team I've seen."
At the Seasons bar and grill, where about 30 people watched the game, Coeur d'Alene's Wes Pulst had similar thoughts.
"I think it's about time (that Gonzaga will win the title)," Pulst said early in the second half. "It has taken a lot of players and transfers to get here."
Kramer said it will take some time for the sting to wear off before fully appreciating how much the Zags accomplished en route to a 37-2 record and their march through the tournament.
"We've had a lot of mediocre and great teams during the past 25 years, but we finally made it (to the championship)," he said.
Pulst put the game into perspective.
"It doesn't get any bigger for sports fans around here," he said. "This was the Super Bowl of Spokane. They could bring the hydroplanes to Lake Coeur d'Alene next year and it wouldn't be bigger than this."
Pulst's hunch early in the second half that it would come down to the final seconds proved correct. That was even after it appeared North Carolina may seize control, Gonzaga's post players ran into foul trouble and Zag center Przemek Karnowski struggled.
"This is going to come down to the last 45 seconds and who has the endurance," Pulst said. "North Carolina is a horrible perimeter-shooting team, but man, they rebound."
Delores Smith, among about 25 people who watched the game at the Post Falls Senior Center, observed with personal interest since five of her grandchildren have attended Gonzaga.
"So many people want them to win, and I've really gotten involved because of my grandchildren going there," Smith said.
Hayden's Cheryl Nichols said she believes it was the Inland Northwest's biggest sports moment since the Seattle Seahawks advanced to their first Super Bowl.
"At the beginning of the season I felt that this was going to be (Gonzaga's) year," Nichols said while watching the game at Taphouse Unchained. "It was exciting that they at least finally got to the Final Four."
Nichols' friend, Kris Hinz, from Coeur d'Alene, said she was crushed for Gonzaga and their fans for the team coming so agonizingly close to bringing the title to the Inland Northwest.
"I wanted it so bad for them because they've never been to the Final Four," she said.
Actually, now they have.