Gonzaga beats San Francisco in WCC semis
Zags advance to 28th straight West Coast Conference title game
LAS VEGAS — Graham Ike totaled 27 points and 10 rebounds, Khalif Battle scored 21 and Gonzaga advanced to its 28th straight West Coast Conference Tournament championship game after an 85-76 victory over San Francisco on Monday night at Orleans Arena in a West Coast Conference semifinal.
The second-seeded Bulldogs (24-8) will play top-seeded and 19th-ranked Saint Mary’s for the tournament championship today with an automatic NCAA Tournament berth up for grabs. The Gaels beat No. 9 seed Pepperdine 74-59 in an earlier semifinal.
Gonzaga upped its win streak against the third-seeded Dons (24-9) to 33. Saint Mary’s won both regular-season matchups with the Bulldogs.
Ryan Beasley scored 10 in the first and hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to put San Francisco up 37-35. Ike had 10 points, Michael Ajayi came off the bench to score all nine of his, and both players grabbed seven rebounds for Gonzaga.
Ike had the first two baskets of the second half and the Bulldogs never trailed again. San Francisco got within a point three times — the last at 62-61 on a basket by Saba Gigiberia with 7:12 remaining. Ike followed with a three-point play and a layup and the Zags pulled away from there.
Malik Thomas hit five 3-pointers and led the Dons with 27 points and eight rebounds. Beasley totaled 13 points and five assists. Wang scored 10.
Saint Mary’s beat San Francisco 66-59 in 1997 the last time the Zags weren’t playing for the title. Gonzaga beat Portland and lost to the Pilots in the 1995 and 1996 championship games. Gonzaga is aiming for its 22nd tournament title since ’95.
The last time the Dons played in the championship game came in 1998 when they beat Gonzaga 80-67.
SAN FRANCISCO (24-9)
Wang 4-9 0-0 10, Linguard 3-8 2-2 9, Ry.Beasley 5-13 1-2 13, Riley 3-5 2-2 9, Thomas 9-18 4-6 27, Abosi 1-3 0-0 2, Ro.Beasley 0-1 0-0 0, Gigiberia 3-3 0-2 6, O’Donnell 0-2 0-0 0, Rivera-Torres 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-62 9-14 76.
GONZAGA (24-8)
Gregg 2-4 0-0 4, Ike 9-13 9-11 27, Battle 5-11 8-9 21, Hickman 2-7 4-4 9, Nembhard 4-10 0-0 8, Ajayi 3-9 3-6 9, Innocenti 0-2 1-2 1, Huff 3-7 0-0 6, Stromer 0-0 0-0 0, Diagne 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-63 25-32 85.
Halftime — San Francisco 37-35. 3-Point Goals_San Francisco 11-25 (Thomas 5-8, Wang 2-5, Ry.Beasley 2-6, Riley 1-2, Linguard 1-4), Gonzaga 4-17 (Battle 3-7, Hickman 1-2, Gregg 0-1, Huff 0-1, Ike 0-1, Nembhard 0-1, Ajayi 0-2, Innocenti 0-2). Fouled Out — Linguard. Rebounds — San Francisco 30 (Thomas 8), Gonzaga 36 (Ike 10). Assists — San Francisco 11 (Ry.Beasley 5), Gonzaga 20 (Nembhard 8). Total Fouls — San Francisco 24, Gonzaga 18. A — 6,217 (9,500).
