Freshman Chet Holmgren scored a career-high 20 points and also contributed nine rebounds and three blocked shots to help No. 4 Gonzaga trounce Northern Arizona 95-49 on Monday night in nonconference play at Spokane, Wash.
Anton Watson scored 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting as Gonzaga (10-2) won its third straight game. Drew Timme added 14 points for the Bulldogs.
Jalen Cone scored 19 points for Northern Arizona (4-8), which has lost three consecutive games and six of its past seven.
Gonzaga shot 55 percent from the field, including 10 of 22 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range. The Bulldogs sank a season-high 13 treys on Saturday in a 69-55 win over Texas Tech.
Northern Arizona shot 32.3 percent from the field and made 5 of 22 (22.7 percent) from behind the arc. The Lumberjacks held a 40-34 rebounding edge but committed 20 turnovers to the Bulldogs’ five.
Gonzaga led by 18 at halftime, then opened the second half with an 11-2 burst to blow the game wide open.
Rasir Bolton scored five points during the run, and the Bulldogs led 59-32 with 16:24 remaining in the game.
Cone drained a jumper four-plus minutes later as Northern Arizona trimmed its deficit to 65-44. However, Gonzaga scored the next 12, with Julian Strawther’s fastbreak layup increasing the lead to 33 with 9:08 left.
Holmgren finished his night by making two free throws with 7:32 left to make it 81-46.
Nolan Hickman’s jumper with five minutes remaining pushed the lead to 40 for the first time, and Gonzaga forced the Lumberjacks to miss their final 10 field-goal attempts.
Holmgren knocked down three 3-pointers while scoring 14 first-half points, and the Bulldogs led 48-30 at the break.
Gonzaga jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead, but the Lumberjacks answered with a nice charge and moved within 16-15 on Cone’s four-point play with 14:03 left in the half.
The Bulldogs later rattled off 10 straight points with Timme capping the spurt with a short hook shot to make it 43-25 with 4:05 left.
Watson’s dunk gave Gonzaga a half-best 21-point advantage before Cone capped a 17-point half by sinking a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
