No. 9 Gonzaga avenges loss to Portland, grabs share of WCC title

Graham Ike scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and snagged a career-high seven steals as No. 9 Gonzaga clinched the top seed in the West Coast Conference tournament as well as at least a share of the regular-season title with an 89-48 victory against Portland on Wednesday in Spokane, Wash.

Braeden Smith added 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting for the Bulldogs (28-2, 16-1 WCC), who also avenged their lone conference loss of the season. Tyon Grant-Foster and Mario Saint-Supery scored 12 apiece as Gonzaga won its sixth game in a row.

Joel Foxwell led the Pilots (12-18, 5-12) with 12 points. Portland has lost four consecutive games.

The Bulldogs were dominant on defense, forcing 22 turnovers while allowing just 17 field goals.

Gonzaga shot 52.4% from the field (33 of 63) while limiting the Pilots to 34.7% (17 of 49).

Ike scored 12 points in the first half as the Bulldogs took a 36-21 lead. He also had six steals by the intermission as Gonzaga forced 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

Foxwell, who scored 27 in the Pilots' 87-80 upset of Gonzaga on Feb. 4, had eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the opening six minutes as Portland took a 15-12 lead.

The Bulldogs responded with a 16-0 run, sparked by an Ike 3-pointer and fastbreak layup off a steal, to take the lead for good. Smith also had five points during the run, also on a trey and a layup, and capped it with a steal and an alley-oop pass to Grant-Foster for a thunderous dunk.

The Pilots were scoreless for a stretch of 7:22 and held without a field goal for 8:59. They went 0-for-6 from the field with eight turnovers during that stretch.

A putback by James O'Donnell with 5:56 remaining and a jumper by Foxwell with 3:29 to go were the Pilots' only field goals in the final 14 minutes of the half.

The Bulldogs closed the half with another alley-oop dunk by Grant-Foster with three seconds left off a feed from Saint-Supery.

--Field Level Media