Gonzaga Bulldogs 92, LMU Lions 58: Live updates recap, highlights from WCC men's basketball game
The Gonzaga Bulldogs took care of business on Tuesday in a 92-58 route of LMU.
Nolan Hickman had a career-high 24 points while facing his old teammate Dominick Harris, who finished with 11 points and had four turnovers.
Hickman shot 10-for-15 from the floor and had four 3-pointers to lead the Bulldogs (16-5, 7-1 WCC) to their fifth-straight win. Graham Ike added 20 points as the team shot 59.0% from the field.
The Lions (10-12, 3-5 WCC) dropped back-to-back games after committing a season-high 20 turnovers, which led to 29 points the other way for the Bulldogs. Justice Hill had 14 points, Justin Wright added 12 while Keli Leaupepe had 10 points and five rebounds.
Gonzaga has won 33 of the last 34 home games against LMU.
Here is the live updates recap:
FINAL: Gonzaga 92, LMU 58
SECOND HALF:
Gonzaga 86, LMU 48 (3:52): Freshman guard Luka Krajnovic made his return back from a broken hand injury, which he suffered on Dec. 15. The 6-foot-5 Croatian almost got his first field goal attempt to go down but just missed on a layup. Leaupepe drilled back-to-back 3-pointers for the Lions.
Gonzaga 81, LMU 40 (7:09): Huff scored five straight points on a layup, plus a foul, and a second-chance score over Leaupepe. Lions missed 17 of their first 21 field goal attempts of the second half.
Gonzaga 72, LMU 36 (11:39): Gonzaga's pick-and-roll sets continued to beat the Lions defense. Nembhard and Ike played the two-man game before Nembhard skipped a pass to Watson, who immediately zipped it to a wide-open Ike for a layup. A few possessions later, the Lions trapped high leaving Ike free on the roll to hit Stromer on a cut baseline for a score. Hickman set a new career of 22 points on his layup in traffic with 13:41 to go.
Gonzaga 64, LMU 31 (15:23): Bulldogs opened the floodgates on the Lions with a 19-2 scoring run out of halftime. Hickman knocked down his third and fourth 3-pointers of the night just moments apart and in the same exact spot in front of the student section. Gregg had a nice two-way sequence with a contest and rebound on the defensive end, followed by a reverse putback layup seconds later.
Gonzaga 51, LMU 29 (18:20): The second half started the same as the first — Nembhard lobbed an alley-oop to Ike off a pick-and-roll to get the Bulldogs offense going. Gonzaga started a quick 6-0 scoring run out of the break, while the Lions continued to find any sort of rhythm.
HALFTIME: Gonzaga 45, LMU 29: Bulldogs coasted into a locker room with a comfortable lead behind three double-digit scorers in Hickman (12 points), Ike (12 points) and Watson (10 points). Gonzaga shot 16-of-24 from the field and scored 16 points off 13 turnovers from the Lions, who were paced by Hill with 12 points in the first half.
FIRST HALF:
Gonzaga 43, LMU 29 (1:12): A pair of free-throws extended Gonzaga's heading into halftime. After a 3-pointer from Nembhard the possession prior for the Bulldogs, Hill answered seconds later for LMU.
Gonzaga 34, LMU 24 (3:43): Hickman continued his hot first half on both ends of the floor, as he snatched a rebound over an LMU player, took the rock himself down into the post against Wright before navigating through the lane for another basket. Hill kept the Lions afloat with a deep 3-pointer over a contest from Watson.
Gonzaga 28, LMU 16 (8:00): Hickman drilled his second triple of the night after coming off a solid off-ball screen on the left wing. Hickman turned a broken fastbreak into a 3-pointer, as Watson couldn't connect with Stromer on an alley-oop, but a few swing passes found Hickman alone on the right wing. Gonzaga started 10-of-15 from the field.
Gonzaga 18, LMU 10 (12:02): Ike's third score in the paint capped a quick 6-0 scoring run from the Bulldogs. Harris and the Lions struggled out the gate, as their leading scorer started 0-for-2 shooting with three turnovers, while the team committed nine turnovers on their first 15 possessions.
Gonzaga 10, LMU 7 (15:54): Bulldogs got right to their bread-and-butter with entry passes down low to Ike, who scored six of his team's first points. Hickman got the crowd lively as he blocked a shot attempt from his old teammate Harris on LMU's second possession.
PREGAME: Harris was welcomed back to The Kennel with a few boos from Gonzaga's student section during the starting five introductions.
