SAN FRANCISCO — Rasir Bolton scored on a follow shot with seven seconds left to give the No. 9 Gonzaga men’s basketball team its first lead since the opening minutes as the Bulldogs beat San Francisco 77-75 on Thursday night.
Gonzaga (13-3, 2-0 West Coast Conference) trailed nearly the entire way before Bolton rebounded a miss by Drew Timme and scored to break a 75-all tie. Bolton was fouled on the play but missed the free throw, giving the Dons (11-7, 0-3) one last chance.
But Khalil Shabazz mishandled his dribble and never got a shot off as San Francisco fell just short of ending a 24-game losing streak against the Bulldogs.
Bolton scored 21 points to lead Gonzaga and Julian Strawther added 16.
Tyrell Roberts scored 18 points for the Dons, making the basket that gave them a 75-73 lead. Shabazz added 17.
Anton Wilson tied the game at 77 with a dunk with just under a minute left and Shabazz missed a three-pointer at the other end that set up the go-ahead basket.
Gonzaga has won 80 straight games against unranked opponents.
The Dons, coming off consecutive 12-point losses to open conference play, took control early thanks to good outside shooting and solid work on the offensive boards.
Shabazz made back-to-back three-pointers late in the half to build the lead to 12 points and USF took a 46-36 lead into the half when Isaiah Hawthorne scored on a put-back with two seconds left.
The Bulldogs used an 11-1 run run early in the second half to get the deficit down to two and the game remained tight the rest of the way. Gonzaga, the nation’s top shooting team at 52.6%, shot just 45% from the field.