Sports

Top-seed Gonzaga escapes scare from No. 16 Southern

SALT LAKE CITY — Somewhere along the line, Gonzaga grew from David into Goliath, coming into the NCAA Tournament shouldering the burden of expectations. But yesterday, the Zags had to fight their opponent to the wire to avoid making history for all the wrong reasons as the first top seed to lose its NCAA tourney opener.

This time it was Southern trying to play Cinderella, modeling its program after the Zags and pushing them to the limit. But in the end, Gonzaga — led by 7-foot lottery hopeful Kelly Olynyk — escaped with a 64-58 West Region second-round nail biter before 12,621 at Energy Solutions Arena.

Truthfully, it was even closer than that.

“That was a tough, hard-fought battle down to the end. … The crowd gets going. Everybody wants to see that first 1-16 loss,’’ said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. “[The crowd was] a bit of a surprise, but everybody was moved by [Southern’s] effort and confidence. If I weren’t coaching, they’d be a tough team not to root for.’’

Southern (23-10) nearly gave the crowd the historic upset it wanted, but the SWAC champs took no solace.

“Not at all, said Derick Beltran, who had a team-high 21 points. “ We came into this game trying to win the game. It’s not a good feeling.”

“We thought we’d make history,’’ added Jameel Grace. “Nobody expected to come out and lose. We always expected to come into the game and win.’’

They came close, tying it at 54 on basket by Brandon Moore, who had four of Southern’s eight blocks. They tied it again at 56, but Gary Bell’s 3-pointer untied it with 3:19 to play.

And after Olynyk — who had 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half — came up with a loose ball, the No. 1-ranked Zags (32-2) earned a third-round date vs. Wichita State tomorrow.

A jab-step by Beltran drew a foul with 2:28 left, and his free throws got Southern within 59-58. But Kevin Pangos (16 points) drilled a right-corner 3-pointer to put the Zags ahead by four with 1:55 to play. And when Malcolm Miller missed a pair of shots late, Pangos sealed it at the foul line.

“In the second half we really focused on finishing through contact,’’ said Olynyk. “And David Stockton and Kevin Pangos got me the ball in good positions. I just had to focus on finishing. They made my second half what it was.’’

With his famous father and Gonzaga legend John in the stands – and in the same arena where he had starred in for the NBA Jazz — the younger Stockton had seven assists to help the Zags advance. But their string of 15 straight NCAA trips beg the question of whether they actually should have won more.

Since three consecutive Sweet 16 berths from 1999-2001, Gonzaga has only danced into the second week twice, and lost to a worse-seeded teams four times since 2002. The Zags narrowly escaped that fate yesterday.

brian.lewis@nypost.com