A DAN-DY: GONZAGA EDGES PEPPERDINE GONZAGA 96, PEPPERDINE 90.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - It took two months, an entire West Coast Conference basketball schedule, 28 total conference games and lots of talk and speculation just to decide Pepperdine and Gonzaga needed one more game to figure out who the best team in the WCC is.

After finishing with identical 13-1 records, splitting their two matchups and tying for the regular-season WCC crown, the Waves and Bulldogs went to a neutral court Monday in the final of the WCC tournament to sort things out and officially determine who would get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga, behind hot-shooting guard Dan Dickau's game-high 29 points _ 27 in the decisive second half _ survived 96-90 to capture the tournament title. Not that everyone walked away convinced the Bulldogs (29-3) are the better team.

``Personally, I still think we're better,'' said Pepperdine (22-8) guard Devin Montgomery said. ``I'll always feel that way. We had a couple of mental lapses late in the game and that was the difference. We clean that up and we have a great chance to win this game. It's tough.''

Gonzaga earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and Pepperdine's postseason fate is in the hands of the tournament selection committee. The Waves have reached the tournament 12 times, the last coming in 1999-2000, when the advanced to the second round after shocking Indiana in the first round.

``We feel good about getting in,'' said Montgomery, who finished with 27 points.

Jimmy Miggins added 12 points and Glen McGowan had 10.

In addition to Dickau's 29, Blake Stepp had 24 and Zach Gourde and Cory Violette each added 16.

The key Monday was Gonzaga's backcourt of Dickau and Stepp, who turned the final 10 minutes into their own personal game of long-range H-O-R-S-E, with each getting hot from the outside and matching one another with 3-pointers to push the Bulldogs ahead 88-73 with four minutes left.

Dickau, one of the top point guards in the country, finished with four 3- pointers, each of which came in a five-minute spurt in the second half in which Gonzaga took control. He capped his shooting performance by making a deep 3-pointer while getting fouled by Montgomery. Dickau made the free throw to put Gonzaga ahead by 11 points.

After Pepperdine closed to within 88-80 on Mike Westphal's 3-pointer with two minutes left, Dickau made a soft jumper over the outstretched arms of 6-11 Cedric Suitt to make it 90-80.

``We had some mental mistakes and let them loose on the outside,'' Pepperdine's Terrance Johnson said. ``And when Dickau gets hot like that, he gets rolling pretty good.''

Stepp had five 3-pointers.

``They made the plays when it counted, but we sort of gave them some help with a few breakdowns,'' Montgomery said.

Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal and his Gonzaga counterpart Mark Few have rallied together to drum up respect for the WCC come tournament selection day, arguing that both Gonzaga and Pepperdine deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament. Their sentiment is shared by most observers and analysts, many of whom have both schools in their mock field of 65.

Gonzaga, the sixth-ranked team in the country, was set before stepping foot in San Diego, and even a major stumble through the first two rounds wouldn't have been enough to keep the Bulldogs out. Not that there wasn't anything on the line. Gonzaga hoped to secure a top seed by winning the tournament title.

Pepperdine's status was a little less certain. The Waves aren't ranked in the Top 25 and they lack the national status Gonzaga enjoys. The Bulldogs earned it, having reached the Sweet 16 the last three years and the Great Eight in 1999.

Still, the fact that Pepperdine tied Gonzaga for the regular-season WCC crown _ splitting its two-game series with the Bulldogs _ beat UCLA and USC away from home and played a nonconference schedule ranked among the top 10 nationally, were solid enough credentials that Westphal keeps insisting his team was in prior to the WCC tournament.

Nothing changed Monday in Westphal's opinion to make him feel any less secure about things.

``This season is long from over,'' Westphal said. ``Now we'll wait until Sunday and find out about the tournament. We have a chance to win a few more games.''

Montgomery agrees.

``I don't think we have to say anything to anyone anymore, I mean they saw us play enough to know we should be in,'' Montgomery said. ``And nothing that happened out there tonight will change that. We deserve an invitation.''

Pepperdine took a 45-44 lead into half behind Montgomery's 11 points and three 3-pointers, eight points from Boomer Brazzle and seven from McGowan.

Gonzaga, feeding its inside players time and again, got 16 points from 6-8 Violette and 13 from 6-8 Gourde.

Despite giving up size and strength to the bigger Bulldogs, Pepperdine stayed close to them on the boards (20-17) and matched them with seven offensive rebounds. The Waves also forced eight turnovers and connected on 50 percent of their shots, making 17 of 34, including 6 of 12 on 3-pointers.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Pepperdine's Boomer Brazzle blocks a shot try by Gonzaga's Zach Gourde Monday night in WCC final in San Diego.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press