Killian Tillie scored 22 points and Filip Petrusev added 16 points, and the No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs rallied for a 71-54 win over the San Francisco Dons on Thursday at Spokane, Wash.
Gonzaga (27-1, 13-0 West Coast Conference) won its 19th straight game and 40th consecutive regular-season conference game, but it wasn't easy.
Tillie, who has been bothered by an ankle injury and missed Gonzaga's last game, went 10-for-13 from the field and recorded nine rebounds before fouling out.
Charles Minlend led the Dons with 22 points. Khalil Shabazz scored 13 points off the bench for San Francisco (17-11, 6-7).
The Bulldogs were held to 22 first-half points, their worst 20-minute performance of the season. They committed eight turnovers and made just 1 of 3 3-point attempts while the Dons made 5 of 12 tries.
The last time the Dons and Bulldogs met on Feb. 1, San Francisco was up by eight at halftime. On Thursday, the Dons took a 31-22 lead into intermission.
Minlend scored 15 first-half points, while connecting on all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. Shabazz added eight points and three steals.
Tillie scored nine points to keep the Bulldogs close. Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi were held scoreless in the first 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs scored the first 13 points of the second half to retake the lead. The Dons did not get on the board until Jimbo Lull's layup on an offensive rebound at the 13:30 mark.
But Kispert answered with his first 3-pointer of the game to push the Gonzaga lead to 37-33. Kispert finished with 11 points, including a corner 3-pointer with less than one second left.
The Bulldogs scored the next nine points to go up 46-33. The Dons wouldn't go away, though. Shabazz scored five straight to cut the deficit to 48-40.
San Francisco was within seven at 58-51 when Tillie sparked a 7-0 run with a layup that iced the game.
The Bulldogs came into the game averaging 88.6 points per game and were held to 17 points under that average.
--Field Level Media
San Francisco | Gonzaga | |
Charles Minlend 22 | Scoring | Killian Tillie 22 |
Jamaree Bouyea 2 | Assists | Ryan Woolridge 7 |
Jimbo Lull 14 | Rebounds | Killian Tillie 9 |
Jimbo Lull 3 | Free Throws Made | Ryan Woolridge 3 |
Khalil Shabazz 6 | Steals | Ryan Woolridge 5 |
Taavi Jurkatamm 1 | Blocks | Admon Gilder 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
San Francisco | 54 | 33.3 | 6-24 | 4-6 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 10 | 16 |
Gonzaga | 71 | 50.0 | 5-13 | 8-15 | 13 | 35 | 2 | 9 | 14 |