Saturday marked another trip down to Stockton, California, to face a Pacific team that proved to be more difficult than advertised for the Gonzaga Bulldogs .
Since 2014, Gonzaga had either led by single digits, was tied or trailed at halftime in seven of nine games inside the Alex G. Spanos Center. In fact, 2019 was the last time the Bulldogs led the Tigers after 20 minutes of play. Still, Gonzaga prevailed in all of those previous matchups against outmatched Pacific squads, usually behind a strong second-half performance.
That trend continued Saturday, as the Bulldogs (15-5, 6-1 WCC) found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with the Tigers (6-16, 0-7 WCC) who had just come off a loss in which they scored 28 points at Saint Mary’s. Leonard Perry’s program swiftly moved on from that 48-point loss to give Gonzaga everything it had despite a clear size and skill mismatch.
After leading 35-34 at the break, the Tigers withstood the Bulldogs’ 12-2 scoring run in the second half to take a 54-53 lead with under nine minutes remaining. Pacific dared Gonzaga to settle for 3-pointers after a 2-for-11 showing from deep in the first half, though the gamble backfired as the Bulldogs went 6-for-11 from downtown while facing the Tigers’ 2-3 zone defense. Along with a more impactful second half from Graham Ike, who was limited to four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Gonzaga opened up a 13-point lead with 2:10 left before ultimately emerging with its 20th consecutive win over Pacific.