SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Drew Timme and Nolan Hickman scored 20 points each and No. 9 Gonzaga beat Santa Clara 81-76 on Saturday night.
Julian Strawther had 18 points and Ben Gregg grabbed eight rebounds to help the Bulldogs (14-3, 3-0 West Coast Conference) get their 25th straight win against the Broncos. Gonzaga has won 48 of the last 50 meetings.
Keshawn Justice scored 22 points and Brandin Podziemski added 17 points and seven rebounds for Santa Clara (14-5, 2-2), which led the back-and-forth contest by one with 90 seconds remaining. Parker Braun had 12 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
The Broncos kept the pressure on the Bulldogs until the final buzzer.
Gonzaga trailed by 14 points in the first half but shot 48.3% (14 of 29) — including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc — the rest of the way to pull out the win.
The Zags will finish their three game road trip on Thursday in Provo against BYU. Tip off for that game is set for 6:30 PM.
