Ryan Woolridge recorded 19 points and nine rebounds to help No. 8 Gonzaga shake off pesky Texas-Arlington 72-66 on Tuesday night at Spokane, Wash.
Killian Tillie contributed 15 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes in his season debut for the Bulldogs (5-0). He missed the first four games with a knee injury.
Admon Gilder added 15 points and Filip Pestrusev scored 10 for Gonzaga. Drew Timme collected 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who held a 45-33 edge on the boards.
Jabari Narcis made all five of his 3-point attempts and scored 16 points for the Mavericks (2-3). Brian Warren and David Azore scored 15 points apeice for UT-Arlington, which fell to 1-33 all-time against ranked programs.
The Bulldogs shot just 39.1 percent overall, including 5 of 22 from 3-point range.
Gonzaga's struggles came after it won its first four games by an average of 35 points. The closest margin of victory in those games was 30 in Friday's game at Texas A&M.
UT-Arlington shot 39.6 percent and was 11 of 26 from 3-point range. The Mavericks shot a school-worst 23.4 percent in Sunday's 67-47 loss at Oregon.
Gonzaga appeared ready to turn a close game into a comfortable lead when it used a 15-4 run over 6 1/2 minutes of the second half. Petrusev capped the spurt with two free throws to make it 53-41 with 10:11 remaining.
UT-Arlington scored the next six points, pulling within six on Warren's jumper with 8:13 left.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 61-50 on Tillie's inside hoop with 4:44 remaining. Timme followed by scoring from the interior to push the margin to a game-high 13.
But the Mavericks kept pushing, and a 7-0 run trimmed Gonzaga's lead to 69-63 with 38.5 seconds left. The Bulldogs missed four of six free throws during the next 23-plus seconds as UT-Arlington moved within five before eventually running out of time.
Woolridge scored the final five points of the first half to give the Bulldogs a 28-27 lead at the break. He knocked down a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left and converted a driving layup just prior to the buzzer.
Most of the first half belonged to UT-Arlington, which opened up a 22-15 lead on three consecutive 3-pointers -- two by Narcis sandwiched around one by Warren.
--Field Level Media
Texas-Arlington | Gonzaga | |
Jabari Narcis 16 | Scoring | Ryan Woolridge 19 |
Brian Warren 4 | Assists | Admon Gilder 5 |
Jabari Narcis 5 | Rebounds | Drew Timme 10 |
David Azore 5 | Free Throws Made | Admon Gilder 7 |
Brian Warren 2 | Steals | Joel Ayayi 2 |
Jabari Narcis 3 | Blocks | Drew Timme 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Texas-Arlington | 66 | 39.6 | 11-26 | 13-17 | 13 | 31 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
Gonzaga | 72 | 39.1 | 5-22 | 17-30 | 10 | 44 | 1 | 7 | 6 |