Crusaders

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Slow-starting Gonzaga finally shook off the first-round jitters, then wore out Grand Canyon 82-70 behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Julian Strawther in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Zags senior Drew Timme brought his sweatband and handlebar moustache back to March Madness and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the third-seeded Bulldogs (29-5), who haven&rsquo;t lost a first-round game in the tournament since 2008.
Next up for Gonzaga is a game Sunday against the winner of a later West Region contest between TCU and Arizona State.
Like almost every Zag outside of Strawther, Timme was bottled up and frustrated in the first half, then came out of halftime and looked like a different player. After trailing by as many as seven, Timme&rsquo;s three-point play gave Gonzaga a 48-40 lead early in the second half.
&ldquo;As I walked into the locker room, Drew was talking to guys about &lsquo;Hey, now the jitters are out of the way and now we&rsquo;ve got to play,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Mark Few said about halftime. &ldquo;I thought we came out, certainly for that first 15 minutes in the second half, and we got back to the plan.&rdquo;
Grand Canyon&rsquo;s Ray Harrison answered Timme&rsquo;s three-point play with a driving layup. After that, Gonzaga went on a 16-0 run during which the 14th-seeded Lopes (24-12),&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wac-championship-grand-canyon-southern-utah-451bf2a672a8a18636443ed288baf18e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">champions of the Western Athletic Conference</a>, missed 11 straight shots and fell behind by 22.
With the game a laugher, the rowdy &ldquo;Havocs,&rdquo; as the Grand Canyon fans are known, turned their attention to the end of No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson&rsquo;s shocker over No. 1 Purdue playing on the big screen above the court.
But there was no upset in Denver.
&ldquo;I told our guys &lsquo;Eyes on the court. We don&rsquo;t need another circus show going on, we&rsquo;ve got one going on here right now,&rsquo;&rdquo; Timme said.
Harrison led Grand Canyon with 20 points and Chance McMillian had 16. Noah Baumann (eight points) made a pair of 3s during a 12-4 stretch that helped the Lopes to their seven-point lead in the first half.
Strawther, who decided to come back to Gonzaga for his junior season instead of heading to the pros, kept Gonzaga in it early. He scored 16 of his 28 in the first half.
The second half was more of a team effort for Gonzaga, which also got 14 points, 11 rebounds and a rugged defensive effort from Anton Watson that included two steals.
In the end, the game was a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/gonzaga-saint-marys-west-coast-conference-ncaa-tournament-8309d967f68424b76b6eb8d40e35babc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lot like Gonzaga&rsquo;s season</a>&nbsp;&mdash; slow start, better as things kept going and a chance to do more. The Bulldogs had their 75-game home winning streak snapped in January and this marked the first time since 2018 they came into the tournament as anything other than a No. 1 seed.
&ldquo;I thought we were in a good place going into halftime,&rdquo; Lopes coach Bryce Drew said. &ldquo;But Gonzaga&rsquo;s one of the best programs in the nation for a reason.&rdquo;
NOT AGAIN
Harrison led Grand Canyon, a fifth seed in the WAC tournament, to four straight wins and the March Madness bid by becoming the first Division I player to collect 80 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists in a conference tournament since Kemba Walker (Big East) in 2011. On Friday, though, Harrison was bottled up. He needed 19 shots to get his 20 points, and finished with two rebounds and three assists.
NOT AGAIN, PART II
This marks the 25th anniversary of Drew&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1eOGcHXsgU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memorable game-winner</a>, when he was a guard for Valparaiso and shot the Crusaders to a 13-over-4 upset over Ole Miss. Nobody had a chance to replicate that for the Lopes, though. Still, this was Grand Canyon&rsquo;s second trip to the tournament since its move to Division I in 2017.
&ldquo;I wish we could skip a lot of steps and upset a team like Gonzaga and make the Sweet 16,&rdquo; Drew said, &ldquo;but in a normal situation, you have to go step by step.&rdquo;
ELLIS&rsquo; KID
With his dad, LaPhonso Ellis, sitting in the stands, Walter Ellis had nine points before fouling out for Grand Canyon. LaPhonso Ellis, the former Notre Dame star, played in Denver for the Nuggets from 1992-98.

Gonzaga wore out Grand Canyon 82-70 behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Julian Strawther in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Gonzaga wears down Grand Canyon 82-70 in March Madness

Joe Tait, a longtime Cleveland sports broadcaster and voice of the Cavaliers for more than four decades, died Wednesday. He was 83.
Tait had recently gone into hospice care following a lengthy battle with kidney disease and liver cancer.
&ldquo;A friend and mentor to many over the years, Joe Tait wasn&rsquo;t just a member of the Cavaliers family; he was a part of the Cavs story like no one else and his voice and unique, candid perspective reverberates throughout the team&rsquo;s history,&rdquo; the Cavs said in a statement. &ldquo;He will be dearly missed.&rdquo;
Tait was with the NBA team from its inception in 1970 until he retired in 2011, calling over 3,000 games. In his final season, the Cavs honored Tait with a commemorative banner that hangs alongside some of the team's retired jersey numbers in the rafters of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Sometimes a little gruff when he didn't agree with a referees' call, Tait also had several signature sayings like &ldquo;Wham with the right hand!&rdquo; following a dunk.
&ldquo;Joe was also famous for his dry wit and his pragmatic view of life and probably wouldn&rsquo;t have wanted a big, sentimental sendoff,&rdquo; the Cavs said. "So, to paraphrase the legend, himself &ndash; Let&rsquo;s not say: &lsquo;goodbye.&rsquo; Let&rsquo;s just say: &ldquo;Have a GOOD night, everybody!&rsquo;&rdquo;
Tait was there in the good and bad years for the Cavs and he finally made it to the NBA Finals as LeBron James led Cleveland to its first appearance in 2007.
James expressed his condolences in a Twitter posting.
&ldquo;Rest In Paradise my friend!!&rdquo; James wrote. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be extremely missed here!&rdquo;
Tait did radio and TV play-by-play for the Cleveland Indians for 16 seasons. He also called games for the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers, Cleveland Crusaders hockey and Mount Union football.
Among Tait's more memorable calls was the Cavs' &ldquo;Miracle in Richfield&rdquo; run in the 1975-76 playoffs, when Cleveland rallied to knock off Washington. He also handled Len Barker's perfect game in 1981.
&ldquo;Thank you, Joe, for the decades of joy you have brought Cleveland sports fans,&rdquo; the Indians said in a posting.
Tait was born in Evanston, Illinois. He began his radio career at Monmouth College (Illinois) before graduating in 1959. He had planned to be a writer, but changed his career course after a professor sent him to record a basketball game and heard his call.
Tait also served three years in the Army.
He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame media wing in 2010.
There were no immediate information on services.
___
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Joe Tait, a longtime Cleveland sports broadcaster and voice of the Cavaliers for more than four decades, died Wednesday. He was 83.

William Carey Crusaders