Admon Gilder and Drew Timme provided sparks off the Gonzaga bench and the top-ranked Bulldogs went on the road and defeated Loyola Marymount 87-62 on Saturday afternoon in West Coast Conference play at Los Angeles.
The win was the 22nd straight for Gonzaga over Loyola Marymount.
Five Bulldogs scored in double figures, led by Filip Petrusev's 16 points. Corey Kispert added 15, Ryan Woolridge chipped in 13, and Gilder finished with 12 and Timme had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
But it was Gilder and Timme who keyed a first-half spurt when the Lions (7-10, 1-2 WCC) were still in striking distance.
Timme scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds, and Gilder added six points -- making the only two 3-pointers by Gonzaga in the first half -- to help the Bulldogs take a 38-22 lead at halftime.
Gonzaga (18-1, 4-0) came into play leading Division 1 in scoring at 84.9 points per game. But it was the Zags' defense that stepped up in the first half, holding the Lions to just 34.6 percent from the field on 9 of 26 attempts.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes, with Gonzaga making only 2 of 10 attempts and Loyola Marymount going 1-for-9. The Bulldogs finished 8-for-22 while the Lions made 7 of 26 3-point tries.
The Zags scored the first six points of the game before Erik Johansson finally got the Lions on the board with a jumper at the 17:09 mark.
Eli Scott, who led the Lions with 20 points, made a layup trimming the Lions' deficit to four, but the lead ballooned to 16-6 when Timme scored the next two baskets and Anton Watson followed with a fast-break layup.
Gonzaga used its size advantage to control the paint and took a 21-12 lead on a Petrusev's layup. For the game, Gonzaga outscored LMU 44-26 in the paint and held a 41-23 rebounding advantage.
Gilder finally connected on a 3-point shot to put Gonzaga up 30-15 and the Bulldogs closed out the half with six straight points to lead by 16.
Loyola Marymount cut the deficit to 54-42 on Scott's layup and subsequent free throw with 10:20 left in the game.
Woolridge followed with a layout and Kispert hit a 3 and the Bulldogs were never threatened.
--Field Level Media
Gonzaga | Loyola Marymount | |
Filip Petrusev 16 | Scoring | Eli Scott 20 |
Ryan Woolridge 5 | Assists | Jordan Bell 4 |
Drew Timme 11 | Rebounds | Jordan Bell 5 |
Filip Petrusev 8 | Free Throws Made | Jonathan dos Anjos 4 |
Admon Gilder 1 | Steals | Erik Johansson 2 |
Drew Timme 2 | Blocks | Ivan Alipiev 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Gonzaga | 87 | 52.5 | 8-22 | 17-27 | 20 | 39 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Loyola Marymount | 62 | 38.6 | 7-26 | 11-17 | 14 | 23 | 3 | 5 | 11 |