MALIBU, Calif. — Drew Timme scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half and Julian Strawther added 28 points to help the No. 13 Gonzaga men’s basketball team beat Pepperdine 97-88 Saturday night and extend its winning streak over the Waves to 45 games.
The Zags (23-5, 12-2 West Coast Conference) haven’t lost to Pepperdine (9-10, 2-12) since Jan. 18, 2002, and have won 20 straight on the road against the Waves.
Timme’s last basket, a layup that gave Gonzaga a 78-70 lead with 5:30 to play, moved him past Bill Cartwright, who scored 2,116 points for San Francisco (1975-79), into eighth place on the WCC career scoring list with 2,117.
Jevon Porter scored nine points in a 16-6 run, capped by Houston Mallette’s three-pointer, that trimmed Pepperdine’s deficit to 78-77 with 3:50 remaining.
Gonzaga’s Rasir Bolton made a three-pointer 27 seconds later, added a three-point play with about two minutes to go and then connected on another three to make the score 90-83 with 1:13 left.
“We survived with our offense tonight,” Zags coach Mark Few said. “Sometimes that’s what you have to do.”
Mallette led the Waves, who are guided by former Washington Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar, with 22 points. Porter and Maxwell Lewis added 20 points apiece.
“We know that, you know, they’re a very talented team and that has a lot of tough shotmakers,” Strawther said. “The main thing we were trying to avoid was getting into a track meet with them, so we’re disappointed in that. But I’m just glad we gritted it out.”
Strawther and Mallette traded tough shot after tough shot in the first half, knocking down pull-up threes, hitting turnaround jumpers, dropping in running floaters and finishing at the rim.
Timme scored eight points during an 18-7 run over the final four-plus minutes of the first half that put the Zags in front 50-42.
“Julian got it going in the first half and [Pepperdine] got really aggressive toward him — as they should because he was hot — and it really opened the game up for me,” Timme said.
Timme scored all of Gonzaga’s points in an 8-4 spurt to open the second half that pushed the lead to 12 points less than two minutes in.
But Pepperdine fought back.
“I talked ad nauseam about how talented they are and how dangerous they are and they showed it tonight,” Few said of the Waves. “Sometimes it takes toughness on offense, too, to step up and take big shots.
“Obviously Ra’s [Bolton’s] shots were huge. Drew was big, delivering in the second half and the second part of the first half. Julian has just been playing great.”