Drew Timme scored 24 of his career-high 38 points in the second half and No. 6 Gonzaga registered a 99-90 victory over host Pacific on Saturday night in West Coast Conference play at Stockton, Calif.
Timme was 17-of-23 shooting while supplanting his previous career best of 37, set last season against Texas. His superiority helped the Bulldogs (17-4, 6-1 WCC) bounce back from a shocking 68-67 home loss to Loyola Marymount on Thursday.
Anton Watson had 16 points and matched his career best of 13 rebounds for Gonzaga. Rasir Bolton also scored 16 points and Julian Strawther added 15 for the Bulldogs.
Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 17 points, Nick Blake added 16 and Keylan Boone had 15 for the Tigers (10-12, 3-4). Luke Avdalovic added 13 points and Judson Martindale scored 12 for Pacific, which lost its third straight game.
The Bulldogs improved to 21-1 all-time against the Tigers, including 19-0 during Mark Few’s 24-season tenure.
Gonzaga shot 58.7 percent from the field, including 6 of 19 from 3-point range.
The Tigers made 47.6 percent of their shots and were 9 of 20 from behind the arc.
The Bulldogs scored the first 12 points of the second half — the last 10 by Timme — to open up a 59-47 lead.
After another Timme hoop made it 61-49, the Tigers ripped off nine straight to move within three.
Boone hit two free throws to bring Pacific within 67-65 with 12:02 remaining.
But Gonzaga began pulling away. Timme made a hook shot to give the Bulldogs a 92-81 lead with three minutes left.
Just 44 seconds later, Timme’s point total reached 38 to achieve a new career high to give Gonzaga a 10-point lead and the Bulldogs closed it out.
Pacific was 8 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half, which ended in a tie at 47.
Avdalovic made three treys while scoring 11 in the half for the Tigers. Timme had 14 for Gonzaga, which led for just 3:03 of the half.
A 3-pointer by Avdalovic gave the Tigers a 22-15 lead with 13:13 left in the half. The Bulldogs answered with an 8-0 run, taking a one-point lead on Ben Gregg’s basket with 11:20 remaining.
Martindale hit a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 47-45 lead with 31 seconds to go before Bolton’s buzzer-beating short shot knotted the score as time expired in the half.
–Field Level Media
