The first half of the 2011 WCC Championship game was a rough and tumble affair with a lot of fouls and even some blood drawn. At the end of twenty minutes of play, the Gonzaga Bulldogs lead the St. Mary's Gaels 39-34. The Bulldogs have that lead in part thanks to a Marquise Carter runner at the buzzer. Carter leads the Bulldogs with 11 points and scored six of the team's last eight points of the half. Saint Mary's is led by Mickey McConnell's 11 points and Matthew Dellavedova's 10 points.
The big story of the first half has to be Rob Jones's foul trouble. The Gaels leading rebounder grabbed an early foul and sat for a stretch before returning. However, he then was charged with a second foul trying to draw a charge and was quickly T'd up for too much arguing of the call. With three fouls, Jones was sent to the bench at the 10:29 mark and sat out the rest of the first half. While Gonzaga did take advantage of the big man's absence, they should arguably be even further ahead than their current five point lead. Fortunately for St. Mary's their outside shooting has been solid as they are 5-for-9 from beyond the three point line.
We'll be back with a game recap in our WCC tournament stream, but in the meantime we'll have in-game updates via Twitter (@sbnbayarea).