Graham Ike scores 19 points as No. 9 Gonzaga beats Portland 89-48 to clinch WCC crown
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8:40 PM on Wednesday, February 25
By HENRY KRUEGER
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Graham Ike scored 19 points and matched a school record with seven steals as No. 9 Gonzaga routed Portland 89-48 on Wednesday night to clinch its first West Coast Conference regular-season championship in three years.
Braeden Smith added 15 points for the Bulldogs (28-2, 16-1), who avenged their 87-80 loss at Portland on Feb. 4. Mario Saint-Supery and Tyon Grant-Foster each scored 12, and Ike grabbed eight rebounds.
Joel Foxwell led the Pilots (12-18, 5-12) with 12 points. Portland shot 34.7% from the field and committed 22 turnovers.
In their final WCC home game before joining the reconstructed Pac-12 next season, the Bulldogs clinched the top seed in the conference tournament for the first time since 2022. Gonzaga has earned the No. 1 seed 11 times in the 17 seasons the WCC Tournament has been held in Las Vegas since 2009.
Battling through double teams in the post, Ike stepped outside and drilled a pair of early 3-pointers and accounted for 12 of Gonzaga’s first 17 points. His second 3 sparked a 16-0 run that gave the Bulldogs a double-digit lead.
Late in the first half, Saint-Supery tossed a lob to Grant-Foster for a two-handed dunk, which sent Gonzaga into the break with a 36-21 lead.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 10-0 run — including 3-pointers from Adam Miller and Emmanuel Innocenti — and led by at least 20 the rest of the way.
With the game out of reach, coach Mark Few pulled Ike with five minutes remaining. That snapped Ike’s 10-game streak of scoring 20 or more points — the longest such run by a Gonzaga player under Few.
The fifth-year forward entered the night leading active Division I players with 2,456 career points. He is the only active Division I player with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Gonzaga visits Saint Mary’s on Saturday looking to secure an outright WCC crown.
Portland hosts San Diego on Saturday.
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