Despite Second Half Rally, Gonzaga Blows Out Pacific

Jan 4, 2014; Spokane, WA, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard

(11) tries to get the steal against Pacific Tigers forward

(24) during the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Despite leading by 21 at halftime, the Gonzaga Bulldogs let the Pacific Tigers stick around in the second half, but ending up defeating the WCC newcomers by a score of 86 to 64.

4 Bulldogs finished in double-figures, with Kevin Pangos and Drew Barham leading the bunch with 16 points each. David Stockton and Sam Dower finished with 15 and 13 points respectively. Przemek Karnowski and Dower finished with 8 and 7 rebounds each, leading the Zags in that aspect. Kyle Dranginis led Gonzaga in assists with 7. He also ended up with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Andrew Bock and David Taylor led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points apiece. Freshman reserve guard led the Tigers in rebounding with 6. Four different Pacific players – Aaron Short, Sama Taku, Trevin Harris and Wallace – finished with 2 assists, leading the Tigers.

The Tigers committed a total 19 personal fouls in the game, which allowed Karnowski to get to the charity stripe a whopping 15 times.

Keys to the Game Checklist

Pacific

(x) Take advantage of no students: The Tigers got off to a painfully slow start, and ended up trailing the Bulldogs by 21 points at the half.

Gonzaga

(PUSH) Angel Nunez: Nunez did not play a fantastic game, but did not play horrible either. His 4 points and 2 rebounds did not make a huge impact on the overall game, but he did not hamper the Zags either, thus forcing a push in this particular key to the game.

Matchup of the Game

The Benches

Push: Neither bench scored a great amount of points for each team as a whole, but each had a high impact sub that scored in double figures – Dower for Gonzaga (13) and Taylor for Pacific (10). As a whole the Tigers bench had 27, the Bulldogs had 22.

Player of the Game

Kyle Dranginis

This might be an unpopular choice for this award, but Dranginis had an overall stellar game to push the Bulldogs over the Tigers. He had 8 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in the win. Stat sheet stuffer.

The Bottom Line

Gonzaga improves to 4-0 with the win, and now hold sole position of first place in the conference with Pepperdine’s loss early today. Pacific is now 0-3 with the loss.

Next: Gonzaga will play at Portland on Thursday while Pacific takes on San Francisco at home.