Gonzaga 85, Santa Clara 42
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Elias Harris scored 17 points and Kelly Olynyk added 14 as the third-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs routed Santa Clara, 85-42, on Wednesday night.
Gonzaga led 44-15 at the half. Harris and Olynyk controlled play under both baskets before sitting out much of the second half.
The Bulldogs, riding a nine-game winning streak, improved to 26-2 overall and 13-0 in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga is 27-1 in the past 28 games against Santa Clara.
Brandon Clark led Santa Clara (19-9, 7-6) with 14 points. The Broncos had not scored less than 64 points or lost by more than 21 this season.
Gonzaga shot 56.9 percent from the field and held Santa Clara to 30.2 percent. The Bulldogs outrebounded Santa Clara 45-22 and outscored the Broncos 50-16 in the paint and 16-3 on second-chance points.
Gonzaga shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and held Santa Clara to 21.4 percent as the Zags staked a 44-15 lead.
Harris and Olynyk dominated inside at both ends of the court and led Gonzaga with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Broncos missed 14 of their first 16 shots. Kevin Foster, Santa Clara's career scoring leader and the WCC's career 3-point field-goals leader, went 0 for 4 from 3-point range in the first half and finished the half with four points and three fouls.
After Foster scored the game's first basket, the Bulldogs held Santa Clara scoreless for more than seven minutes while running off 15 unanswered points.
NOTES: Gonzaga coach Mark Few now has a career record of 368-92. His .800 winning percentage in 14 seasons as a head coach (all at Gonzaga) leads active Division I men's basketball coaches with at least five years of experience. ... Jerry Krause, Gonzaga's director of basketball operations, said the Bulldogs have finalized a home-and-home contract with Arizona. Gonzaga plays in Tucson in 2014-15, and the Wildcats come to Spokane the following year. ... Three Bulldogs have earned degrees and are enrolled in master's programs: senior Mike Hart and redshirt juniors Olynyk and Drew Barham. ... Senior guard Raymond Cowels III became the fourth active Santa Clara player with 1,000 points last Saturday against Pepperdine. The three others are senior guard Kevin Foster (the Broncos' all-time leading scorer), senior forward Marc Trasolini and junior point guard Evan Roquemore. ... Jim Fitzgerald, a former Gonzaga baseball player and the nephew of longtime Gonzaga basketball coach Dan Fitzgerald, attended his first game at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Dan, who died in 2010, had a bitter parting of ways with Gonzaga and never stepped foot in the building after it was built in 2004.
