SPOKANE, Wash.: Corey Kispert scored 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting as top-ranked Gonzaga opened its West Coast Conference schedule by beating San Francisco 85-62 on Saturday.
Joel Ayayi added 18 points and Andrew Nembhard had 14 for Gonzaga (10-0, 1-0), which has won 44 consecutive home games the longest streak in the nation. Drew Timme had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Jamaree Bouyea scored 18 for San Francisco (7-5, 1-1), which has lost 20 consecutive games to Gonzaga since 2012. The Dons were undone by poor shooting in the second half. Dzmitry Ryuny added 11 points.
Both teams shot well in the first half. San Francisco took a 14-13 lead, but the Zags replied with a 12-2 run to go up 25-16.
San Francisco cut the lead to three several times. But the Zags closed with a 9-0 spurt, and Kispert’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Bulldogs a 47-37 halftime lead.
Kispert had 18 points in the first half as Gonzaga shot 58%. Bouyea had 16 points to keep San Francisco within striking distance.
The Zags scored the first seven points of the second half to complete a 16-0 run and led 54-37.
Anton Watson’s basket gave Gonzaga a 65-45 advantage with 12 minutes left as the Dons made only three of their first 13 shots in the second half. A 15-3 run pushed Gonzaga’s lead to 75-48 as the Dons went more than six minutes without a field goal.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Gonzaga should remain first in the AP Top 25, as it has all season, after winning three games this week.
BIG PICTURE
San Francisco: The Dons have a history of playing tough against Gonzaga in recent years. In last year’s WCC Tournament semifinals, the Zags won just 81-77. … San Francisco leads the WCC in 3-point field goal percentage (.370) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.268).
Gonzaga: The Zags went 26-1 during calendar 2020, covering parts of two abbreviated seasons, with the only loss at BYU in February. … Gonzaga is first in the nation in scoring offense (96.2 ppg) and field goal percentage (55.7). … Four Zags average double digits in scoring.
UP NEXT
San Francisco hosts Pepperdine on Thursday.
Gonzaga hosts Santa Clara on Thursday.
___
More AP college basketball: http://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25