Graham Ike had 21 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, Adam Miller and Tyon Grant-Foster added 20 points apiece, and No. 12 Gonzaga held off Santa Clara 94-86 at Leavey Center on Saturday night to snap the Broncos’ nine-game winning streak.
Santa Clara forward Elijah Mahi drives to the basket in front of Gonzaga guard Mario Saint-Supéry (17) during the second half of Saturday’s WCC game at Leavey Center.
Gonzaga (25-2, 13-1 WCC) moved into first place in the league — a half-game ahead of the Broncos — and reached the 25-win mark for the 19th consecutive season under coach Mark Few.
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Christian Hammond scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures for Santa Clara (22-6, 13-2).
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Gonzaga missed seven of its first 10 shots and trailed by eight before going on a 15-7 run midway through the first half. Ike later powered his way past two defenders in the key to score and give the Bulldogs their first lead at 31-29.
After Santa Clara regained the lead briefly, Ike ran past 7-foot-1 center Bukky Oboye for a thunderous one-hand dunk to help Gonzaga to a 44-39 halftime lead.
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The Bulldogs were 3-for-18 from behind the arc but shot 56% (36-for-64) overall, scored 66 points in the paint and outrebounded Santa Clara 41-32.
Cal 86, Boston College 75: Chris Bell made six 3-pointers and scored 22 points for the visiting Bears (18-8, 6-7 ACC), who never trailed and led by as many as 20 points in each half as they bounced back from a double-overtime loss at Syracuse.
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Bell was 8-for-13 from the field, including 6-for-10 from long range. John Camden made four 3s and finished with 15 points. Dai Dai Ames also scored 15 points and Justin Pippen chipped in with 12. Cal shot 56% overall and 48% (14-for-29) from beyond the arc.
“California, you’ve got to give them credit, they made 14 3s. It’s hard to do that,” Boston College coach Earl Grant said. “You could defend them great, you could be open. You know, making 14 3s is not an easy thing to do. So you’ve got to give them some credit. Fourteen 3s is 14 3s.”
Fred Payne scored 16 points to lead Boston College (9-16, 2-10), which has lost six straight games. Chase Forte added 14 points, and Luka Toews and Jayden Hastings scored 12 each.
With 4:18 remaining, Toews hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-3 spurt that pulled the Eagles to 80-71 with 2:16 left. Camden answered with a 3 and B.C. didn’t get closer.
“I was proud of our guys to be able to make the plays late to seal the win,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. “It’s a road game, a tough environment here at Boston College.”
Cal used a 19-8 run, capped by Camden’s 3-pointer, for a 20-point lead late in the first half. Payne’s 3 helped pull the Eagles to 43-28 at the break. In the second half, another Camden 3 stretched the Bears’ lead to 55-35 with 16:32 to play.
Wake Forest 68, Stanford 63: In Winston-Salem, N.C., Ebuka Okorie scored 26 points to surpass Todd Lichti for the Cardinal’s freshman single-season scoring record but Stanford was unable to hold off the Demon Deacons.
Okorie (541 points) moved past Lichti (516 points in 1985-86) with his first basket of the game. The single-season school record of 734 points was set by Adam Keefe in 1991-92.
Juke Harris scored 25 points for Wake Forest (13-12, 4-8 ACC), which overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and was 28-for-32 from the foul line. Stanford (16-10, 5-8) was 9-for-14 on free throws.
“You’re just not going to overcome 32 free throws to 14,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “That’s really, that’s a tall order. And that’s just the breaks of the game.”
Stanford led 39-30 at halftime but was unable to extend its lead in the second half. Wake Forest finally tied it at 61 on a layup by Harris with 1:48 remaining. A jumper by Harris with 54 seconds left gave the Demon Deacons their first lead since it was 9-6.
Harris made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 25 seconds and his scoring run was interrupted only by a layup from Okorie that made it 66-63 with 10 seconds left. Harris was fouled with nine seconds left and capped the scoring with two more free throws.
St. Mary’s 72, Pacific 61:
Murauskas, whose previous best was 30 points, was 11-for-15 from the floor against Pacific. He scored 11 consecutive points for the Gaels in a 4:11 span of the second half as a 30-30 tie became a 41-32 St. Mary’s lead. He added 16 more points before game’s end.
Joshua Dent scored 15 points and Mikey Lewis had 10 for the Gaels.
Elias Ralph scored 17 points to lead Pacific.
Grand Canyon 94, San Jose State 79: Jaden Henley scored 24 points to lead five Lopes in double figures and Grand Canyon (16-9, 9-5 Mountain West) closed the first half with a 13-0 run to erase a 10-point deficit and scored 54 points in the paint as it handed the host Spartans (6-19, 1-13) their eighth consecutive loss.
With seven players sidelined — including four who have combined for 40 starts this season — the Spartans had only six players available. One of those, Colby Garland, played all 40 minutes and led San Jose State with 23 points and seven assists.
“We were in a really good spot, and then we didn’t play well to end the half,” San Jose State coach Tim Miles said. “And oftentimes that leads to what’s going on in the second half, which I thought that did. … We had enough offense. We scored 79 points. But defensively, we just never dug in and got stops.”
Women
Santa Clara 77, Portland 66:
Santa Clara, which reached 20 wins for just the second time in the past 10 seasons, trailed by four at halftime and by three entering the fourth quarter before opening the final period with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good.
The Broncos were 10-for-15 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, when they scored 28 points. They also limited the Pilots to 5-for-17 shooting in the period.
“This was a phenomenal win for the program. Obviously a really tough road trip facing two really great teams,” Santa Clara coach Loree Payne said. “To get to that 20-win mark, it’s defining as a successful season. And I’m really glad to have more games left to continue to build on this.”
USF 81, Pepperdine 70:
USF, coming off a home loss to St. Mary’s in which the Dons wilted in the fourth quarter and shot 33.3% for the game, avoided a similar letdown and shot 53% from the floor. USF led by as much as 17 and hit six free throws in the final minute to keep Pepperdine at bay.
“I thought she made some really good scores off of cuts, a good job of finishing at the rim, she knocked down a 3-pointer” USF coach Molly Goodenbour said of Edokpaigbe’s effort. “She just had a really good overall game. … She’s a huge asset for us.”
Mara Neira and Aina Cargol had 11 points apiece and Sol Castro scored 10 for the Dons. Meghan Fiso led Pepperdine with 18 points.
Air Force 77, San Jose State 61: The Spartans (3-23, 1-14 Mountain West) used 57% shooting to build a two-point lead at intermission but couldn’t maintain their pace in the second half as they fell to the host Falcons (12-13, 6-9).
Maya Anderson scored 16 points and Amira Brown added 15 to lead San Jose State, which was 8-for-23 (35%) from the field in the second half and 12-for-22 on free throws in the game.
“We came out and really battled in the first half,” San Jose State coach Jonas Chatterton said. “Then in the second half, give Air Force credit. They came out and pressed us and turned us over. You’re not going to win a game when you have 20 turnovers in the second half.”
Milahnie Perry scored 20 points for Air Force.
