PORTLAND, Ore. — Graham Ike scored 19 points and Davis Fogle added 17 to lead a balanced attack as third-seeded Gonzaga held off Kennesaw State 73-64 in the first round of the NCAA West Region on Thursday.
Jalen Warley had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season for the Bulldogs (31-3), who won their 17th straight NCAA Tournament opener.
Gonzaga is 24-8 in the tournament since 2017, posting four more victories than any other program.
“I always, always, understand how just how hard it is to win a game in this tournament,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “So I think that is one of the things I am most proud of. You watch today, 16 seeds giving 1s all kinds of problems. It’s really really tough to win games. I’m really happy we got through this one. It wasn’t pretty, but the bottom line is to win and move on.”
RJ Johnson and Amir Taylor each scored 15 points, Kaden Rickard had 14 points and Frankquon Sherman notched 13 points and 10 rebounds for the 14th-seeded Owls (21-14), who survived the loss of leading scorer Simeon Cottle in a midseason federal gambling probe to win the Conference USA tournament as the sixth seed.
Gonzaga will play Texas in a second-round game Saturday. The Longhorns got 23 points and a career-high 16 rebounds from Matas Vokietaitis in a 79-71 victory over BYU on Thursday.
The game tightened down the stretch after Ike was called for a flagrant foul with 3:06 remaining and the Zags holding a 67-58 edge.
Sherman made two free throws to cut the deficit to 67-60, and Mario Saint-Supery was called for a blocking foul as the Owls kept the ball. The Owls made two free throws to close to 67-62 before Warley hit a layup with two minutes left.
Sherman made two more free throws at 1:45 to trim the deficit to five. Ike made a short jumper to push the lead to 71-64 with 1:16 left after the Owls chose not to foul.
Ike, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, had eight rebounds. Saint-Supery had seven points and eight assists and Fogle had five rebounds.
The Zags had a 45-34 rebounding advantage and overcame 39.7% shooting from the field, their third-worst showing game of the season.
–Jack Magruder, Field Level Media
