Gonzaga tops Santa Clara to claim WCC title for last time
Freshman Mario Saint-Supery established season bests of 21 points and six 3-pointers to help top-seeded Gonzaga post a 79-68 victory over Santa Clara on Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the West Coast Conference tournament title for the 22nd time in the past 28 seasons.
Tyon Grant-Foster recorded 20 points and seven rebounds as the Bulldogs (30-3) claimed the WCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Graham Ike added 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting and Davis Fogle added 13 points off the bench for Gonzaga, which was playing in the WCC title game for the final time before relocating into the rebuilt Pac-12 next season.
Christian Hammond scored 24 points and Allen Graves added 11 points and nine rebounds for the third-seeded Broncos (26-8).
Santa Clara is expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament field after knocking off second-seeded Saint Mary's in the semifinals. The Broncos haven't been part of March Madness since finishing a run of three appearances in four seasons in 1996 during the Steve Nash era.
With Saint Mary's solidly in the field, this will mark just the fourth time that the WCC will have three teams in the NCAA field if Santa Clara is selected.
The Bulldogs shot 52.8% from the field and made 10 of 25 from 3-point range while improving to 3-0 against the Broncos this season. Gonzaga had a 27-0 edge in fastbreak points.
Santa Clara connected on 38.2% of its shots, including a shaky 9 of 34 from behind the arc.
Gonzaga never led in the contest until Fogle drained a 3-pointer for a 50-49 edge with 13:08 remaining.
But that trey began a sequence in which the Bulldogs scored 18 of 25 points. Saint-Supery made two 3-pointers during the run, the latter one giving Gonzaga a 65-56 lead with 6:33 remaining.
After Santa Clara moved within five, Saint-Supery buried a wide-open 3-pointer to make it 68-60 with 4:34 left.
Fogle's three-point play made it 75-65 with 1:12 remaining as Gonzaga finished off its final WCC title game in style.
Hammond scored 12 first-half points as Santa Clara led 33-29 at the half. The Broncos outrebounded the Bulldogs 23-15 and had a 13-0 edge in second-chance points over the first 20 minutes.
The Broncos opened the game with a 9-1 burst before Gonzaga later tied the score at 16 on Fogle's driving hoop with 9:37 left in the half.
Santa Clara led 33-25 after a 3-pointer by Sash Gavalyugov with 1:55 left before the Bulldogs scored the final four points of the half.
Ike took just two shots in the first half, scoring four points.