SPOKANE — Drew Timme had 22 points and 13 rebounds to help No. 12 Gonzaga beat San Diego 97-72 on Thursday night.
The win sets up a matchup between Gonzaga and No. 15 Saint Mary’s for the West Coast Conference regular-season title on Saturday. The Gaels haven’t won an outright WCC regular season title since 2011-12 and haven’t beat the Zags twice in a season since 2015-16.
Timme needs to average 19.3 points per game over the next three games to break Gonzaga’s all-time scoring record set by Frank Burgess in 1961.
The Zags (23-6, 13-2 West Coast) dug out of an early six-point deficit with a 19-2 run before Jase Townsend took over for USD, scoring on an array of jumpers and drives to keep the margin in single digits. Not to be outdueled, Ben Gregg reeled off 11 points in the last 4:35 of the first half as part of a 17-7 Gonzaga run to close the half up 17.
Gregg had 18 points and Julian Strawther scored 17. Gonzaga is 16-0 this season when Strawther scores at least 14 points and have won 146 straight games when ahead by 10 or more at the half.
Gonzaga women get WCC title share
SAN DIEGO — Brynna Maxwell and Kaylynne Truong led a balanced attack with 14 points each and the No. 18 Gonzaga women pulled away from San Diego in the fourth quarter for a 73-61 win to clinch a share of the West Coast Conference title.
Yvonne Ejim had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (26-3, 16-1) and Eliza Hollingsworth scored 10.
Gonzaga is a game ahead of Portland, which had its game at BYU postponed because of travel cancellations due to snow in Portland. No makeup has been set, but the WCC tournament doesn’t start until Thursday.