SPOKANE — Drew Timme scored 19 points and the 12th-ranked Gonzaga men’s basketball team clinched a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a 77-68 victory over No. 15 Saint Mary’s on Saturday night.
Anton Watson had 17 points for the Zags, who have won or shared the conference title in 11 straight seasons. Gonzaga (25-5, 14-2 WCC) reached the 25-victory mark for the NCAA Division I men’s-record 16th season in a row — and avenged a loss to the Gaels earlier this month in Moraga, California.
Logan Johnson led Saint Mary’s (25-6, 14-2) with 27 points.
Because the teams shared the regular-season title, the WCC will use the NCAA’s NET rankings to determine the top seed for the conference tournament in Las Vegas. That could be decided Sunday. Entering Saturday’s game, Saint Mary’s was ranked No. 7 and Gonzaga 10th in the NET rankings.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” returned to Spokane for the first time since 2009, with many students camping overnight in below-freezing temperatures to be first inside when doors opened at 6 a.m.
“It was the best environment of the year,” show host Rece Davis said. “Really, I’d be hard pressed to think of one that was better in the last few years.”
Women beat BYU
PROVO, Utah — Yvonne Ejim scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the No. 18 Gonzaga women secured the WCC regular-season title outright with a 58-51 victory over Brigham Young.
The Zags (27-3, 17-1 WCC) already had clinched at least a share of the title.
Ejim made 8 of 11 shots. Her three-point play put Gonzaga up 50-45 with 2:51 to go and the Zags made 8 of 10 free throws in the final 79 seconds.
“I am really, really proud of our team,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “We battled. It was not a pretty game, and they still found a way to win. I loved the way that we played team defense. Since it was a challenge for us offensively, we had to stop them from scoring baskets.”
Fortier won her seventh regular-season WCC title.