National Basketball Association
Gonzaga 88, San Francisco 60
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, March 5, 2018
Where: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials:
# Randy McCall, # Gregory Nixon, # Mike Reed
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Sophomore forward Killian Tillie scored 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting to help No. 6 Gonzaga reach the West Coast Conference championship game with a convincing 88-60 victory over San Francisco on Monday at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Sophomore forward Rui Hachimura added 17 points and freshman guard Zach Norvell Jr. had 14 as the top-seeded Bulldogs (29-4) won their 13th consecutive contest. Senior power forward Johnathan Williams contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds as Gonzaga defeated the Dons for the 14th straight time.
Junior forward Nate Renfro scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting for fourth-seeded San Francisco (18-15). The Dons shot 36.1 percent from the field.
Gonzaga will face third-seeded Brigham Young in Tuesday's title game after the Cougars upset second-seeded Saint Mary's 85-72 on the strength of 33 points from sophomore forward Yoeli Childs.
Tillie, who had five 3-pointers against San Francisco, is averaging 25 points while hitting 10 of 10 from 3-point range in two WCC tournament games.
Gonzaga, which shot 53.3 percent from the field, led by 21 at the break and maintained a huge lead throughout the second half.
Junior guard Josh Perkins, who recorded eight assists, made two free throws to boost the Bulldogs' lead to 57-31 with 17:18 to play. San Francisco answered with a 9-4 run before Tillie made back-to-back shots to push the Gonzaga lead back up to 25.
Tillie improved to 9-of-9 from the field when he drained his fourth 3-pointer of the game to make it 68-43 with 11:36 remaining. He missed his next field-goal attempt but was back at it with 10:24 to play when he knocked down his fifth 3-pointer to increase the margin to 28.
Tillie was removed with 8:39 left as coach Mark Few began resting his key players in preparation for Tuesday's title game.
Gonzaga's lead topped out at 33 points.
Tillie was 5-of-5 shooting while scoring 14 first-half points and Norvell also tallied 14 as the Bulldogs led 48-27 at the break. Gonzaga shot 64.3 percent in the half.
San Francisco was within 23-17 after a dunk by junior forward Matt McCarthy with 11:33 left in the half before the Bulldogs rattled off 11 consecutive points. Hachimura scored the final seven points, including a thunderous dunk followed by a free throw to make it 34-17 with 8:36 left.
Norvell's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 42-22 with 6:04 remaining. Tillie drained his third 3-pointer of the half to make it 48-25 with 2:27 to go.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| San Francisco |
|
Gonzaga |
|
Nate Renfro 15 |
Scoring |
Killian Tillie 26 |
|
Nate Renfro 3 |
Assists |
Josh Perkins 8 |
|
Nate Renfro 6 |
Rebounds |
Johnathan Williams 10 |
|
Jordan Ratinho 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Rui Hachimura 7 |
|
Souley Boum 1 |
Steals |
Zach Norvell Jr. 3 |
|
Taavi Jurkatamm 3 |
Blocks |
Rui Hachimura 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| San Francisco
|
60 |
36.7 |
5-22 |
11-15 |
10 |
31 |
3 |
3 |
13 |
| Gonzaga
|
88 |
53.3 |
12-26 |
12-15 |
15 |
35 |
3 |
8 |
9 |
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