PORTLAND, Ore. — Drew Timme scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half, and top overall seed Gonzaga rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat No. 9 seed Memphis 82-78 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Trailing at the half for only the fourth time this season, Gonzaga leaned on its star junior to carry the Zags into its seventh straight Sweet 16. The Bulldogs will face No. 4 seed Arkansas in the West Region semifinals on Thursday in San Francisco.
Andrew Nembhard added 23 points for the Bulldogs, Rasir Bolton scored 17 and Gonzaga never trailed after a basket from Timme and Bolton’s 3-pointer with 10 minutes remaining that made it 61-57.
But Memphis didn’t go away. The Tigers pulled even at 66 on DeAndre Williams’ basket. After Nembhard’s 3 put the Bulldogs up 76-69, the Tigers still made it a one-possession game with 32 seconds left on Lester Quinones’ 3-pointer.
Nembhard, the only consistent free-throw shooter for Gonzaga on the night, made four at the foul line in the final 25 seconds and the Bulldogs (28-3) were on their way to the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season.
Williams scored 14 points for Memphis but sat a big chunk of the second half with foul trouble. Tyler Harris had 11 of his 14 points in the first half and Quinones finished with 10.
The matchup between future NBA lottery picks Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga and Jalen Duren of Memphis never fully materialized because of foul trouble. Duren finished with seven points and seven rebounds but played just 19 minutes and sat for more than 10 minutes of the second half after picking up his fourth foul.
Holmgren had nine points, nine rebounds and four blocks before fouling out in the final seconds.
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