SPOKANE, Wash. (December 31) —— Drew Timme scored a season-high 35 points on 15-of-19 shooting and added 10 rebounds and five assists as No. 10 Gonzaga won its 27th consecutive West Coast Conference opener, defeating Pepperdine 111-88 Saturday afternoon in Spokane, Wash.
The Bulldogs (12-3, 1-0 WCC) also defeated the Waves (7-8, 0-1) for the 44th straight time, dating back to 2002. Read more: Mark, Sasser help No. 3 Houston pull away vs. UCF – highlights and stats
Timme moved past Elias Harris and into fourth place on Gonzaga’s career scoring list with 1,861 points, six shy of Adam Morrison, who is No. 3. Frank Burgess holds the record with 2,196 points.
Five other Zags scored in double digits, as Julian Strawther added 22 points, Malachi Smith had 15, Rasir Bolton scored 14, Anton Watson tallied 11 and Ben Gregg contributed 10. Maxwell Lewis led Pepperdine with 20 points despite playing just 23 minutes because of foul trouble.
Carson Basham and Jevon Porter each scored 17 points for the Waves, while Mike Mitchell Jr. added 13 and Houston Mallette had 11. Lewis scored seven points in the opening 3:15 as the Waves took an 11-7 lead. But he picked up his second foul with 13:45 left in the half and sat for more than eight minutes.
When he returned, it took just 16 seconds for him to be whistled for his third foul and he spent the rest of the half on the bench. Timme scored 22 points in the first half as the Bulldogs took a 56-40 lead.
The score was tied at 36-all with 6:26 left in the first half when Bolton scored on a driving layup to spark a 9-0 run. The Zags closed the half with another 9-0 run over the final 2:38 to pull away. Gonzaga shot 61 percent from the field (47 of 77) while Pepperdine shot 52.2 percent (35 of 67).
The Zags had a 70-46 advantage in points in the paint and a 30-5 edge in fastbreak points. It was Gonzaga’s 74th consecutive win at home, the longest streak since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament in 1985 — considered the modern era of the game. –Field Level Media
