Gonzaga 74, Loyola Marymount 55
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Kevin Pangos and Kelly Olynyk both scored 20 points in No. 6 Gonzaga's 74-55 rout of Loyola Marymount on Saturday night in the West Coast Conference.
Junior point guard Anthony Ireland scored more than half of Loyola Marymount's points by matching his career high of 30. He received warm applause from the Gonzaga crowd when he was pulled from the game with a minute left.
Elias Harris dominated inside with Olynyk and scored 16 points for the Bulldogs (23-2, 10-0 WCC), who have won six straight games. The Lions (8-16, 1-10) have lost eight in a row, and 23 straight at Gonzaga.
Ireland sank 8 of 20 shots from the field on a night when his teammates went 9 of 37. Gonzaga shot 51.1 percent from the field and LMU hit 29.8 percent. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Lions 43-23 and outscored them 34-18 in the paint.
Pangos sank 7 of 11 shots from the field, inclding 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Olynyk knocked down 7 of 8 from the floor and all six of his free throws. Harris went 3 of 9 from the field but was 10 of 14 at the line and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
The last-place Lions played the first-place Bulldogs tough much of the first half, but Gonzaga pulled away late to take a 35-26 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs pounded the ball inside to the 7-foot Olynyk and the 6-8 Harris whenever possible. The two combined for 19 points in the first half -- 12 by Olynyk -- and Pangos drained three shots from beyond the 3-point line for nine of his 11 points in the half.
Ireland scored 15 of Loyola Marymount's 26 points in the first half. Ashley Hamilton, one of two other Lions to score in the half, had two points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field. Ireland sank 4 of 10 shots from the floor and his teammates went 3 of 21.
NOTES: Thursday's win over Pepperdine pushed Gonzaga's Mark Few ahead of North Carolina's Roy Williams for the highest winning percentage among active NCAA Division I men's basketball coaches with at least five years of experience. Few bumped his winning percentage to .7982 (364-92). Williams slipped to second at .7979 (691-175). ... Few has won at least 23 games and advanced to the NCAA tournament in all 13 full seasons as a head coach -- all at Gonzaga. He was a high school assistant coach for two years before becoming a graduate assistant at Gonzaga in 1990-91. Few replaced good friend Dan Monson (now at Long Beach State) as head coach in 1999-2000. ... Senior guard Mike Hart returned to Gonzaga's starting lineup after Memphis transfer Drew Barham made his first start against Pepperdine.