Gonzaga Extends Decades Of Dominance Over Portland

Nolan Hickman scored 13 points and Michael Ajayi collected a season-high 15 rebounds as No. 19 Gonzaga cruised to an easy 81-50 victory over visiting Portland on Thursday night in West Coast Conference play at Spokane, Wash.

Dusty Stromer scored a season-best 12 points as the Bulldogs defeated Portland for the 19th straight time and 39th in the last 40 meetings. Gonzaga coach Mark Few, in his 26th season, improved to 46-2 against the Pilots during his tenure.

Ryan Nembhard recorded 10 points and nine assists, and Khalif Battle and Braden Huff also had 10 points apiece for the Bulldogs (11-4, 2-0 WCC).

Vincent Delano scored 12 points for the Pilots (5-11, 0-3), who lost their third consecutive game.

Portland made just 33.3 percent of its shots and was 4 of 25 from behind the arc.

Gonzaga made 11 of 24 from long range and shot 42.6 percent overall. The Bulldogs committed just seven turnovers while forcing 15. Ben Gregg had four steals to go with seven points and nine rebounds.

Stromer answered with a 3-pointer and scored seven points during an 11-2 burst as the Bulldogs took a 58-35 lead with 10:22 left.

Hickman later hit consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead to 66-39 with 8:26 remaining.

Gonzaga’s lead reached 30 when Emmanuel Innocenti knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 73-43 with 4:57 left.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga ripped off 20 consecutive points. Nembhard made two 3-pointers, including one to end the run with 10:20 left in the half.

Max Mackinnon scored on a layup 23 seconds later to end the Portland scoring drought at just over 7 1/2 minutes.

Battle buried a 3-pointer to make it a 20-point lead with 6:44 to play. He later drove for a hoop to make it 32-9 with 5:32 remaining.

Reuters. /Adukwu William , Lagos