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No. 20 Gonzaga outlasts WVU

Dec 11, 2013 - 6:42 AM Morgantown, WV (SportsNetwork.com) - Przemek Karnowski scored 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as No. 20 Gonzaga rallied past West Virginia for an 80-76 win at WVU Coliseum.

Kevin Pangos added 18 points and Gary Bell Jr. added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (9-1), who have won five straight since falling to Dayton on Nov. 25.

"It was a heck of a game," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. "I think both teams fought and played with a lot of emotion. West Virginia is a very much-improved team, especially the way they shoot the ball."

Eron Harris poured in 23 points and Juwan Staten finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for the Mountaineers (6-4), who have dropped three of their last four games.

"We're going to be alright -- we're going to be good," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "We just can?t keep losing games that are winnable, and this was a winnable game."

Staten knocked down a pair of free throws before a quick layup gave the Mountaineers a 51-41 lead with 16:10 left.

The Bulldogs used an 8-2 run, capped by a Sam Dower slam, to make it 53-49 with 12:43 left.

The teams traded makes from there until Terry Henderson's four-point play stretched WVU's advantage to eight points.

Gozaga slowly chipped away at the lead and Pangos canned a jumper and a wide- open trey, around a pair of Karnowski free throws, to give Gonzaga a 68-66 lead, its first since the 2:46 mark of the first half.

Pangos added two more threes over the next two minutes to make it 74-66 with 2:25 remaining.

Nathan Adrian stripped Kyle Dranginis and found Harris for a pull-up trey to make it a four-point game with 1:28 left and Staten buried a jumper from the left elbow 34 seconds later to pull the Mountaineers within 76-74.

Dower's putback slam, and a Bell free throw made it a four-point game with 14 ticks showing, but Staten knocked down a pair from the charity stripe five seconds later to keep WVU's upset hopes alive.

Dower split a pair of free throws on the other end to all but seal it for Gonzaga.

WVU led 39-35 after a back-and-forth first half.

Game Notes

Gonzaga shot just 44.3 percent (27-for-61) from the field, its lowest mark of the season ... Dower finished with 11 points and five rebounds and David Stockon had a game-high eight assists ... Henderson finished with 15 points for WVU, which turned it over just five times ... The Mountaineers were just 25-for-67 from the field.