Drew Timme scored a game-high 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting Thursday night, leading four players in double figures as No. 2 Gonzaga extended the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak to 61 games with a 110-84 rout of BYU in Spokane, Wash.
Timme left the game with 6:49 left after converting a three-point play to give the Bulldogs (13-2, 2-0 West Coast Conference) a 100-67 lead. He was one of three players to tally at least 20 points for Gonzaga.
Andrew Nembhard added 22 points and 12 assists, connecting on 4 of 6 3-pointers. Julian Strawther netted 20 points and Chet Holmgren finished with 12 as the Zags sank an absurd 69.4 percent of their shots, going 11 of 21 on 3-pointers.
Alex Barcello scored 19 points to pace the Cougars (14-4, 2-1), while Caleb Lohner added 17 and Te’Jon Lucas chipped in 10. BYU sank 13 of 29 3-pointers and matched Gonzaga 33-33 on the boards, but none of it mattered with the Zags playing at such a high level offensively.
The Cougars trailed just 61-54 in the first minute of the second half when Fousseyni Traore hit a layup, but that’s as close as they got. Timme scored 11 points in a 3:02 span to turn a competitive game into a laugher.
Both teams exploded from the starting block. BYU scored the first seven points in 66 seconds and Gonzaga rattled off 10 in a row in only 1:37. At the first TV timeout, just over five minutes into the game, the Zags led 16-15.
Gonzaga continued its torrid pace, hitting the 31-point mark with 10:25 left when Nembhard drained a 3-pointer. The margin got to 19 on Timme’s jump hook at the 4:55 mark.
But the Cougars kept things respectable for the half’s remainder with some deadly 3-point shooting. They converted three in the final 2:05 of the half, and Barcello added an old-school three-point play that allowed them to creep within 61-49 at intermission.
–Field Level Media
