Jan. 21, 2012
Final Stats
SPOKANE, Wash - The Gonzaga Bulldogs continued their strong conference play with a 77-60 win over the San Diego Toreros Saturday night.
San Diego (7-12, 2-5 WCC) was down just four (32-28) at halftime, but the Bulldogs were too much and outscored the Toreros 45-32 in the second half behind 68-percent shooting from the field (17-of-25).
Three Toreros finished in double-digit scoring. Darian Norris scored a season-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Dennis Kramer continued his strong play with 14 points and Johnny Dee added 10.
"We've learned that we can compete against these teams for stretches but to beat them there are things that we have to do and sustain for longer periods of time," said head coach Bill Grier. "I think part of that is inexperience and just playing so many young guys. They feel like they can battle with these guys, but there is always a stretch in these games where we have some mental breakdowns or maybe some toughness breakdowns that allow the other team to make a run at the right time and we just cannot recover."
Both Dee and Norris added two three-pointers each and Christopher Anderson had three steals.
The Bulldogs (16-3, 6-1) were led by center Robert Sacre's game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Elias Harris added a double-double of his own (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Gary Bell Jr. added 11 points.
San Diego just completed a tough stretch of WCC games having played five of their first seven games against teams that are currently in the top four of the nine team standings (BYU twice, Saint Mary's, LMU and Gonzaga).
The Toreros return to the friendly confines of Jenny Craig Pavilion this Thursday at 7 p.m. to host Pepperdine.
