Gonzaga wears down Grand Canyon 82-70 in March Madness

DENVER (AP) —Slow-starting Gonzaga finally shook off the first-round jitters,then wore out Grand Canyon 82-70 behind 28 points and 10 reboundsfrom Julian Strawther in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Zags seniorDrew Timme brought his sweatband and handlebar moustache back toMarch Madness and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and threeblocks for the third-seeded Bulldogs (29-5), who haven’t lost afirst-round game in the tournament since 2008.

Next up forGonzaga is a game Sunday against the winner of a later West Regioncontest between TCU and Arizona State.

Like almostevery Zag outside of Strawther, Timme was bottled up and frustratedin the first half, then came out of halftime and looked like adifferent player. After trailing by as many as seven, Timme’sthree-point play gave Gonzaga a 48-40 lead early in the secondhalf.

“As I walkedinto the locker room, Drew was talking to guys about ‘Hey, now thejitters are out of the way and now we’ve got to play,’” coach MarkFew said about halftime. “I thought we came out, certainly for thatfirst 15 minutes in the second half, and we got back to theplan.”

GrandCanyon’s Ray Harrison answered Timme’s three-point play with adriving layup. After that, Gonzaga went on a 16-0 run during whichthe 14th-seeded Lopes (24-12),champions of the Western AthleticConference, missed 11 straight shots and fell behind by 22.

With the gamea laugher, the rowdy “Havocs,” as the Grand Canyon fans are known,turned their attention to the end of No. 16 seed FairleighDickinson’s shocker over No. 1 Purdue playing on the big screenabove the court.

But there wasno upset in Denver.

“I told ourguys ‘Eyes on the court. We don’t need another circus show goingon, we’ve got one going on here right now,’” Timme said.

Harrison ledGrand Canyon with 20 points and Chance McMillian had 16. NoahBaumann (eight points) made a pair of 3s during a 12-4 stretch thathelped the Lopes to their seven-point lead in the first half.

Strawther,who decided to come back to Gonzaga for his junior season insteadof heading to the pros, kept Gonzaga in it early. He scored 16 ofhis 28 in the first half.

The secondhalf was more of a team effort for Gonzaga, which also got 14points, 11 rebounds and a rugged defensive effort from Anton Watsonthat included two steals.

In the end,the game was alot like Gonzaga’s season—slow start, better as things kept going and a chance to do more.The Bulldogs had their 75-game home winning streak snapped inJanuary and this marked the first time since 2018 they came intothe tournament as anything other than a No. 1 seed.

“I thought wewere in a good place going into halftime,” Lopes coach Bryce Drewsaid. “But Gonzaga’s one of the best programs in the nation for areason.”

NOTAGAIN

Harrison ledGrand Canyon, a fifth seed in the WAC tournament, to four straightwins and the March Madness bid by becoming the first Division Iplayer to collect 80 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists in aconference tournament since Kemba Walker (Big East) in 2011. OnFriday, though, Harrison was bottled up. He needed 19 shots to gethis 20 points, and finished with two rebounds and threeassists.

NOTAGAIN, PART II

This marksthe 25th anniversary of Drew’smemorable game-winner, when he was a guard forValparaiso and shot the Crusaders to a 13-over-4 upset over OleMiss. Nobody had a chance to replicate that for the Lopes, though.Still, this was Grand Canyon’s second trip to the tournament sinceits move to Division I in 2017.

“I wish wecould skip a lot of steps and upset a team like Gonzaga and makethe Sweet 16,” Drew said, “but in a normal situation, you have togo step by step.”

ELLIS’ KID

With his dad,LaPhonso Ellis, sitting in the stands, Walter Ellis had nine pointsbefore fouling out for Grand Canyon. LaPhonso Ellis, the formerNotre Dame star, played in Denver for the Nuggets from 1992-98.