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Dee, San Diego top No. 25 Gonzaga

Feb 23, 2014 - 7:57 AM San Diego, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Gonzaga is still in the driver's seat to win the West Coast Conference, but for the second straight game the Bulldogs were denied the chance to lock up the regular season crown.

Johnny Dee had 16 points and Duda Sanadze added 15, as San Diego upended No. 25 Gonzaga, 69-66, Saturday night.

The Bulldogs claimed no worse than a tie for the title last weekend, but then had their title celebration put on hold Thursday when BYU beat Gonzaga, 73-65. Gonzaga still leads BYU and San Francisco each by two games in the conference with two remaining. The Zags play at Pacific and at St. Mary's to conclude the slate.

Jito Kok and Dennis Kramer each totaled nine points for the Toreros (16-14, 7-11 WCC), who snapped an 11-game skid against the Bulldogs. It was San Diego's first win over Gonzaga since March 10, 2008 in the WCC tourney title game.

The Bulldogs (23-6, 13-3) were led by 18 points and 15 rebounds from Sam Dower Jr. Przemek Karnowski added 17 points, but he fouled out with 4:04 left in the game.

Gonzaga was behind as many as 11 points in the second half, but closed within three several times, but couldn't get a key rebound. Sanadze missed a 3- pointer with under two minutes left, but Christopher Anderson came up with the board. That led to two made free throws for Kramer with 1:13 left.

Gonzaga's Kevin Pangos, who was limited to four points, 11 below his average, then had the ball stolen away, but both teams failed on opportunities over the next 53 seconds.

David Stockton's layup had it 66-63 with 20.4 seconds left, and the Toreros then had trouble getting the ball over midcourt and San Diego guard Johnny Dee was forced to call a pair of timeouts. Dee then dribbled the ball off the foot of Gonzaga's Gary Bell Jr. The ball rolled to the other end of the court and was originally awarded to Gonzaga with 3.2 seconds left, but upon review was switched to the Toreros.

Sanadze made one free throw before Stockton drained a 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left for a 67-66 lead. Sanadze made two from the charity stripe to seal the outcome.

Gonzaga led by as many as eight points in the first half, but trailed 36-34 at the break thanks to Anderson's 3-pointer for the Toreros in the closing seconds.

San Diego widened its lead to 49-38 with 16:06 left following Sanadze's 3- pointer.

Game Notes

Gonzaga shot 50 percent from the field ... San Diego was 23-of-33 at the foul line, compared to 6-of-11 for the Bulldogs ... San Diego had nine steals and just eight turnovers ... Gonzaga owns a commanding 63-22 series advantage.