• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Gonzaga topples San Diego, extends win streak to seven

Feb 1, 2009 - 5:25 AM SPOKANE, Washington (Ticker) -- Austin Daye scored 17 points as No. 25 Gonzaga shook off a slow start to post a 64-47 victory over San Diego in a West Coast Conference contest on Saturday.

Josh Heytvelt had 13 points and nine rebounds and Jeremy Pargo scored 10 for the Bulldogs (16-4, 7-0 WCC), who captured their eighth straight win.

Coming off a 69-62 victory in Thursday's showdown with Saint Mary's, Gonzaga came out a bit off against San Diego, missing five shots and committing two turnovers over its first six possessions.

Although they did not get on the board until Ira Brown's dunk with 5:20 expired, the Bulldogs quickly got back in the game, using a 14-0 run to turn a 6-2 deficit into a 16-6 lead with 7:51 before the half. Daye had a tip shot and a 3-pointer during the burst.

"Early on, that was their tempo to slow the game down," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "We have to be able to be successful in a couple different ways and were able to do that this week. Much like the WSU (Washington State) game, we played this style of game just as well today as we did down there."

Gonzaga went on to lead 27-18 at the half before putting the game away with an 18-6 spurt early in the second half. Heytvelt capped the run with his only 3-pointer of the game, making it 47-28 with 10:13 left.

After shooting 9-of-26 in the opening 20 minutes, the Bulldogs clicked offensively after the break, going 50 percent (12-of-24) from the floor.

"We very efficient on the offensive end in the second half," Few said.

Daye summed up that efficiency, going 6-of-9 from the field as he continued a six-game stretch in which he has averaged 17.0 points.

Danny Brown had nine points for the Toreros (12-10, 4-3), who shot 33 percent (17-of-51) from the field.

"We did a great job of defense and rebounding tonight," Few said. "We were in the right spots, we made the correct switches. Everybody did a nice job on defense."