SPOKANE — Silas Melson scored 17 points and Jordan Mathews had 16 as No. 14 Gonzaga beat Utah Valley 92-69 in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
Nigel Williams-Goss added 14 points for Gonzaga, which was 28-8 last season and advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
Conner Toolson scored 19 points and Kenneth Ogbe added 13 for Utah Valley, which was 12-18 last season.
Gonzaga outshot the Wolverines 52 percent to 36 percent and dominated the rebounding 52-30.
Gonzaga made its first three shots to take an 8-0 lead. Mathews’ 3-pointer, part of a 9-0 run, helped push the Bulldogs’ lead to 28-13.
Utah Valley put together a 12-2 run, and consecutive 3-pointers by Toolson and Ogbe cut Gonzaga’s lead to 30-25. It was the closest they would come to the lead.
Gonzaga responded with a 15-7 run to take a 45-32 lead at halftime.
Przemek Karnowski’s stuff highlighted an 8-2 run early in the second half that gave Gonzaga a 56-37 lead.
The Wolverines cut Gonzaga’s lead to 63-50 on Isaac Neilson’s basket midway through the second half. But Gonzaga pushed the lead back to 20 points on Killian Tillie’s basket with 7:56 left and was not threatened again.
Karnowski, a 7-foot-1 center who missed most of last season with a back injury, returned to the lineup and had 14 points and seven rebounds
Gonzaga has won 13 straight season openers dating to a 2003 loss to Saint Joseph’s.
Gonzaga, a new-look team sporting four transfer students, is favored to win the West Coast Conference again this season.
Washington St. 69, Montana St. 65
PULLMAN — Derrien King scored 22 points and Washington State held on to beat Montana State 69-65 in the season opener Friday night.
Tyler Hall led the Bobcats with 32 points, hitting seven 3-pointers.
Former Shorewood High School star Josh Hawkinson had 16 points and 13 rebounds, made a pair of free throws with 5:45 to play to put the Cougars up by 14. Hall’s 3-pointer had the Bobcats within 62-56 with 2:44 to go and a 3 by Quinton Everett cut it to 66-63 at 28 seconds. The Cougars made two of four free throws to lead by five before Hall got a pair at the line with14 seconds to go. King answered with a free throw and MSU couldn’t answer.
Washington State scored the first 11 points of the game and led 31-21 at the half as the Bobcats shot just 22 percent (8 of 36).
Seattle 76, Pacific Lutheran 65
SEATTLE — Brendan Westendorf led Seattle with 22 points, as the Redhawks held off the pesky Lutes on Friday in the season opener for both teams.
The Division III Lutes led Seattle for most of the first half, but Westendorf helped the Redhawks regain a seven-point advantage at the break.
Pacific Lutheran pulled to within a bucket early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Dylan Foreman, but Westendorf again brought Seattle back, scoring on consecutive possessions as PLU stalled.
The Lutes made one more run, getting to within four with 3:38 remaining on a 3-pointer by Kyle Sawtell, but the Redhawks answered.
Eastern Washington 70, Linfield 47
CHENEY — Felix Von Hofe made seven 3-pointers for his 21 points and Cody Benzel added five 3-pointers and 17 points to lead Eastern Washington to a season-opening 70-47 victory over Linfield on Friday.
The Eagles hit half of their 32 3-point attempts and shot 53.2 percent overall.
WOMEN
Washington 100, Eastern Washington 52
SEATTLE — Kelsey Plum scored 25 of 32 points in the first half to lead No. 17 Washington to a 100-50 win over Eastern Washington in the season opener for both teams Friday night.
Chantel Osahor added 13 points, Mai-Loni Henson had 12 and Hannah Johnson 10 for the Huskies, who shot 54 percent from the floor (34-63) and got 16 steals. Osahor and Johnson had seven rebounds each.
Washington broke away in the second quarter with a 21-2 run sparked by a 3-point play from Plum, giving the Huskies a 52-21 halftime advantage. Plum also had two 3-pointers, two layups and two free throws for 15 points in the breakaway stretch.
Eastern Washington took its only lead with a pair of free throws in the first quarter from Ashli Payne that made it 4-2. Washington retook the lead for good with Plum’s first 3-pointer.
Delaney Hodgins led Eastern Washington with 13 points and Tisha Phillips added 12.
Idaho 68, Seattle 64
SEATTLE — Mikayla Ferenz led the Vandals withy 22 points, including a pair of free throws with 27 seconds remaining that gave Idaho (1-0) its winning margin on Friday at the Connolly Complex.
After trailing by as many as eight early in the game, the Redhawks (0-1) fought their way back into the game and held a 3-point lead with 3:51 remaining.
A jumper by Ferenz cut it to one, and she sank a 3-pointer with 1:56 to go that gave the Vandals the lead.
Seattle briefly regained the advantage on a 3-pointer by Alexis Montgomery with 1:23 to go, but her turnover after Ferenz’s pair of free throws with 27 seconds on the clock proved crucial.
Brooke Reilly made a pair of freee throws with 17 seconds left to seal it.
Montgomery led Seattle with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting.
Former King’s High School star Daylee Hanson added one point for the Vandals.
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