Jalen Warley recorded a season-best 22 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to help No. 7 Gonzaga defeat host San Diego for the 20th consecutive time, 99-93 in West Coast Conference play on Tuesday night.
Tyon Grant-Foster scored 18 points, Braden Huff had 14 points and eight rebounds and Mario Saint-Supery also scored 14 points for the Bulldogs (14-1, 2-0 WCC), who won their seventh straight game. Gonzaga’s Graham Ike added 11 points and nine rebounds.
Ty-Laur Johnson scored 21 points, Juanse Gorosito added 16 points and D’Arrae Goodwin tallied 15 for the Toreros (6-8, 1-1). San Diego’s Adrian McIntyre had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Toneari Lane put up 10 points.
The Toreros are now 1-31 against Gonzaga since recording a 69-62 upset over the Zags in the 2008 West Coast Conference tournament title game. That contest resulted in the Toreros making their most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Warley’s three-point play gave Gonzaga an 83-62 lead with 7:21 left before the Toreros made a furious late comeback bid.
San Diego scored 11 straight points to pull within 98-93 on McIntyre’s layup with 11.2 seconds left. San Diego made eight straight shots to end that burst.
Grant-Foster split two free throws with 9.2 seconds left, and Lane missed a 3-point attempt for San Diego as the Bulldogs escaped.
Gonzaga shot 56.5% from the field, including 8 of 18 (44.4%) from 3-point range. The Bulldogs held a dominating 44-27 rebounding advantage. Warley also contributed five assists and three steals.
San Diego connected on 53.4% of its attempts and was 12 of 31 (38.7%) from behind the arc.
Huff made consecutive hoops to give Gonzaga a 70-50 lead with 10:41 remaining, capping a 10-0 surge.
After McIntyre’s basket ended the run, Saint-Supery canned a trey to give the Zags a 21-point lead with 9:50 to play.
Warley’s three-point play made it 83-62, but San Diego responded with an 18-5 charge, ending with four straight points from Goodwin, to move within 88-80 with 3:12 left.
Warley scored five straight to put the Bulldogs ahead by 16 with 1:38 left before the Toreros made the Zags sweat.
Grant-Foster scored 13 first-half points to help Gonzaga hold a 48-37 lead at the break. Johnson had 10 points in the half for San Diego.
The Toreros led 11-9 after a 3-pointer by Boskovic 4 1/2 minutes into the game.
Steele Venters then drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs the lead for good, starting a 10-0 run.
