Gonzaga Bulldogs at Pacific Tigers

Gonzaga clinches WCC with 70-53 win over Pacific

It was the perfect bounce-back game for the Bulldogs, (24-6, 14-3 WCC), who will head into the conference tournament as the top seed for the 11th time in coach Mark Few's 15 seasons. Gonzaga had lost back-to-back games to BYU and San Diego and fell out of the Top 25 before blowing out the Tigers in their first visit to the Northern California campus in more than 35 years.

The Bulldogs led by as much as 23 despite a slow night from leading scorer Sam Dower Jr. and got enough scoring off the bench to make up for the slack.

T.J. Wallace had nine points and four rebounds for Pacific (14-14, 5-12).

The Bulldogs led nearly the entire game and had no problem putting away the Tigers in their first visit to the Pacific campus since Dec. 23, 1976.

That took Gonzaga out of a must-win situation heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at St. Mary's.

Pangos, held to 17 points combined in the losses to BYU and San Diego, had 15 points in the first half and repeatedly sped past Pacific's defense for easy buckets. He had nine points as part of a 13-0 run when Gonzaga took the lead for good, then helped keep the Bulldogs comfortably ahead in the second half.

That helped offset a slow night from 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski. Karnowski spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble and injured his right foot six minutes into the second half. Gonzaga's big man returned and finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

Dower Jr., the Bulldogs' leading scorer, was also slowed by fouls and had just six points.

Barham made four 3-pointers to keep the Bulldogs rolling. He scored eight consecutive points to push the Bulldogs lead to 64-43 in the second half.

Pacific, which matched its longest losing streak of the season at four, couldn't keep up.

Playing before their largest crowd since 2005, the Tigers got off to a sluggish start then briefly took the lead midway through the first half before losing to Gonzaga for the fifth time in six meetings between the two schools.

It marked the fourth straight game Pacific has been held under 60 points.

Gonzaga held Pacific scoreless for the first five minutes but led only 12-11 after Karnowski picked up his second foul midway through the first half.

Pangos scored on three quick layups and made a trio of free throws as part of a 13-0 run that put Gonzaga up for good. He later added a pair of threes that helped the Bulldogs go up 40-28 at halftime.

How can I watch Gonzaga vs. Pacific?

• TV Channel: Gonzaga at Pacific 2021 College Basketball, week 17, is broadcasted on ESPNU.
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