Associated Press
SPOKANE – The Gonzaga players are enjoying – and winning – the close games.
Dan Dickau scored 10 of his 23 points over the final nine minutes Sunday, and the 18th-ranked Bulldogs pulled away late from San Diego for a 75-62 victory, their 12th straight.
The Bulldogs (15-2, 2-0 West Coast Conference) have had recent close wins over Santa Clara, New Mexico and Saint Joseph’s.
“Our whole team likes to play close games,” Dickau said. “It energizes us. It helps us out down the stretch because we’ve done it before.”
Dickau made all 10 of his free throws as he helped defuse a fierce San Diego comeback.
After being down 45-28 at halftime, the Toreros (9-6, 1-1) went on a 29-14 run to open the second half and trailed just 59-57 with about seven minutes left. But Dickau scored seven points and Blake Stepp added five as the Bulldogs closed the game with a 16-5 run.
“We just got back to being our old aggressive selves,” Dickau said.
Roy Morris was 5-for-5 from 3-point range and scored 17 points for San Diego.
“We only played 25 minutes of that game,” Morris said. “The first 15 minutes we were sitting there watching them.”
Gonzaga has a tendency to jump to an early lead and then let teams back in, Morris said.
“We had nothing to lose,” in the second half, Morris said.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said the 3-pointer and shot clock make it tough to keep big leads, but the Bulldogs committed 20 turnovers.
“Our turnovers ignited them and they hit some shots,” Few said. “You’re not going to win games in the first half.
“There’s a saying that the only early leads that hold up are against you.”
Andre Laws of San Diego, the second-leading scorer in the WCC behind Dickau, was 4-of-19 from the field and had eight points, 10 below his average.
The Toreros shot just 39 percent in the game.
Laws and Jason Blair each scored six points during a 16-6 run early in the second half as San Diego cut Gonzaga’s lead to 51-44.
Three 3-pointers and a layup by Morris during an 11-2 run brought San Diego within 56-55 with 8:50 left.
After Dickau’s basket and free throw made it 59-55, Stepp scored five straight points to make it 64-57 with 6:09 remaining.
The Toreros then lost their shooting touch and were forced to foul. Gonzaga scored nine consecutive points, seven by Dickau, to build a 75-59 lead with a minute left.
In the first half, Gonzaga’s Cory Violette scored nine points – two layups, a dunk and a 3-pointer – during an 18-4 run that gave the Bulldogs a 27-13 lead with 6:30 left in the first half.
San Diego scored only eight points during an 11-minute stretch of the first half to fall behind 34-17 with 3:59 left. The Toreros shot only 37 percent in the first half, and at one juncture were 1-for-10 on 3-pointers, while Gonzaga was shooting 55 percent.
But in the span of a minute, Morris made two 3-pointers, sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Tom Lippold, to bring the Toreros within 40-28 with 1:30 left in the half.
Dickau’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Gonzaga a 45-28 halftime lead. Dickau, Violette and Zach Gourde each had 13 points at halftime for Gonzaga.
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